DUKE 
UNIVERSITY 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


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Dr.  Ridout  as  he  ap- 
peared coming  out  of 
i}ie  Argonne  Battle  Front. 


Rev.  George  W.  RidouU  D.  D. 


The  Cross  and  Flag 


Experiences  in  the 
Great  World  War 


BY 

GEORGE  W.  RIDOUT,  D.  D. 

Methodist  Minister. 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Secretary 
Overseas. 


Pentecostal  Publishing  Company ^ 
Louisville,  Ky. 


COPYRIGHT,  1919. 
BY 

PENTECOSTAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 


9tf ^  ^  7  ^ 


DEDICATION. 

To  my  wife  who  with  great  bravery  bore  my 
going  to  war,  and  with  a  beautiful  spirit  carried 
all  the  responsibilities  of  home  and  family  during 
my  absence. 

To  the  Officers  and  Men  of  the  38th  Regiment 
with  whom  I  was  associated  when  they  "wrote  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  pages  of  military  history'*  in 
the  Battle  of  July  15. 


JUST  A  WORD. 


Numerous  war  books  have  been  published.  To 
venture  another  upon  this  somewhat  overcrowded 
sea  might  appear  a  trifle  presumptuous,  but  I  have 
ventured  because  of  the  unusually  generous  re- 
ception my  writings  in  the  Christian  Witness,  The 
Pentecostal  Herald,  The  Christian  Herald  and  the 
Christian  Advocate  have  received. 

Some  things  which  have  appeared  in  some  of 
the  above  papers  I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to 
reproduce  in  the  book. 

I  have  named  this  book:  *'The  Cross  and  the 
Flag — Experiences  in  the  Great  World  War/'  be- 
cause of  what  the  Cross  means  to  me  as  a  Chris- 
tian, and  what  the  Flag  means  to  me  as  an  Amer- 
ican. 

Since  the  war,  these  words  have  a  new  signifi- 
cance for  me  : 

"In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I  glory, 

Towering  o'er  the  wrecks  of  time ; 
All  the  light  of  sacred  story 

Gathers  round  its  head  sublime.'* 
In  one  of  the  French  villages  which  the  Ger- 
mans had  destroyed  by  their  artillery,  one  thing 
remained  untouched  and  unhurt  through  all — the 
Wayside  Cross.  Homes  had  been  wiped  out,  busi- 
ness places  ruined,  schoolhouse  and  church  laid  in 
ruins,  but  the  Cross  stood  intact.  So  with  the 
wreckage  of  this  old  world  and  the  tumbling  of 
thrones  and  crowns,  the  Cross  of  Christ  remains 
as  ever — the  hope  of  the  world  and  its  only  means 
of  salvation. 


Then  the  Flag  I  Glorious  old  Flag!  Its  stars 
broke  upon  the  darkened  skies  of  Europe  and  gave 
out  light  and  hope.  When  it  was  flung  to  the 
breeze  in  France  a  new  day  da%Mied  for  the  Allies. 
The  coming  of  our  Flag  brought  rescue  and  vic- 
tory! 

The  Flag  is  coming  back  home  again  and  we 
hail  it  with  new  affection  and  new  thrills  of  pa- 
triotism. 

During  the  war  someone  wrote  of  the  Flag  thus : 
* 'Here's  to  the  blue  of  the  wind-swept  North, 

As  we  meet  on  the  fields  of  France. 
May  the  spirit  of  Grant  be  over  them  all, 

As  the  sons  of  the  North  advance. 
And  here's  to  the  gray  of  the  sun-kissed  South, 

As  we  meet  on  the  fields  of  France. 
May  the  spirit  of  Lee  be  over  them  all, 

As  the  sons  of  the  South  advance. 
And  here's  to  the  blue  and  the  gray  as  one, 

As  we  meet  on  the  fields  of  France. 
May  the  spirit  of  God  be  over  us  all. 

As  the  sons  of  the  Flag  advance." 
Now  that  it  comes  back  from  Foreign  shores  we 
say  as  thankful  patriots : 

"Your  flag  and  my  flag;  and  oh!  how  much  it 
holds : 

Your  land  and  my  land,  secure  beneath  its  folds. 
Rose-red  and  blood-red,  its  stripes  forever  gleam. ; 
Snow-white  and  soul-white,  the  good  forefath- 
er's dream 

Sky-blue  and  true-blue,   with   stars  to  gleam 
aright — 

The  gloried  guidon  of  the  day,  the  shelter  of  the 
night.'* 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter.  Page. 

1.  Departure   1 

2.  A  London  Air  Raid   Ie5 

eS.    The  Battle  of  the  Skies  in  Paris   23 


4.  My  First  Religious  Work  in  France   28 

5.  Doing  Field  Work  on  Historic  Soil   32 

6.  The  Story  of  a  Little  French  Village, . .  35 

7.  The  Story  of  John  Grace  of  the  Army ...  41 


8.  Under  Fire  47 

9.  Chateau  Thierry  52 

10.  Moving  Toward  the  Battle  Lines   60 

11.  My  Baptism  of  Fire   65 

12.  The  Second  Battle  of  the  Marne   73 

18.  After  the  Battle   76 

14.  Fletcher  Benson   90 

15.  Peace  103 

16.  Preaching  the  Gospel  in  Germany  114 

17.  Some  Messages  of  the  War  129 

18.  Joan  of  Arc  139 

19.  Consecration — As  Illustrated  by  the  War  149 

20.  Some  Interesting  People  I  Met  During 

and  After  the  War  158 

21.  The  Havoc  of  War,  and  After  166 


CHAPTER  1. 


DEPARTURE. 

When  the  war  between  Germany  and  America 
broke  out  I  was  on  the  Theological  staff  of  Taylor 
University.  With  the  declaration  of  war  there 
was  great  excitement,  and  for  a  few  days  it  was  a 
difficult  matter  to  hold  the  students  down  to  their 
studies,  particularly  the  young  men. 

In  addressing  my  Bible  class  one  morning  I 
told  them  that  I  believed  the  war  would  only  be  a 
question  of  a  few  months,  now  that  America  had 
entered  upon  it.  I  w^as  greatly  mistaken.  The 
foe  was  much  stronger  than  we  gave  him  credit 
for.  At  that  time  I  had  not  the  slightest  idea 
of  becoming  in  any  way  connected  with  the  war, 
save  as  a  citizen,  but  one  night  with  several  other 
professors  of  Taylor  University  I  attended  a  meet- 
ing at  Marion,  Indiana,  where  speeches  were  made 
and  the  war  situation  impressed  upon  us.  I  got  a 
different  view  of  matters  that  night. 

For  quite  a  considerable  while  I  felt  a  great 
burden  of  prayer  on  my  soul  as  though  something 
was  pending,  I  knew  not  what.  I  think  I  know 
the  reason  now.  The  Lord  was  getting  me  ready 
for  a  line  of  service  and  suffering  such  as  I  had 
never  passed  through  before. 

The  fact  was,  that  for  some  time  I  had  been 
7 


8 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


feeling  that  the  world  was  in  an  agony  and  that 
the  Lord  would  not  hold  us  guiltless  if  we  lived 
snug  lives  and  comfortable,  paid  our  taxes  and  did 
a  few  other  decent  things  like  respectable  Chris* 
tians  and  let  the  other  fellows  do  the  suffering 
and  endure  the  agony  and  we,  like  the  Levite  in 
Luke  10,  pass  by  on  the  other  side.  I  felt  that  in  a 
crisis  like  the  one  that  is  now  on  us  with  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  our  boys  from  our  Sunday  schools 
and  churches  and  camp  meetings  going  across  the 
sea  to  fight  for  a  safe  and  righteous  democracy 
for  the  world,  that  an  opportunity  was  afforded 
Christian  men  and  workers  and  evangelists  and 
preachers  to  pitch  in  and  help  save  our  boys  from 
going  to  the  devil,  and  put  up  bars  and  build 
fences  around  them  of  prayer,  and  moral  and  re- 
ligious influence  and  by  every  means  possible  do 
the  utmost  to  save  them  physically,  morally  and 
spiritually  . 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  had  opened  doors  by  which 
many  ministers  could  go  to  the  war  and  do  their 
bit  in  a  moral  and  religious  sense,  and  when  pass- 
ing through  Chicago  in  December,  1917,  on  my 
way  to  a  meeting  in  Michigan,  I  went  before  the 
Central  West  Committee  who  were  selecting  men 
for  overseas  service.  It  seems  as  though  it  pleas- 
es the  Lord  to  favor  me  with  an  immediate  accep- 
tance and  I  went  on  my  way  to  await  the  call. 

When  we  offered  ourselves  to  the  work  it  was 
Vvith  no  limitations  and  no  strings ;  it  was  for  im- 
mediate service  and  for  the  duration  of  the  war. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  9 


We  felt  if  this  thing  was  worth  going  into  it  was 
worth  going  into  all  over.  And  w^hy  not?  John 
S.  Inskip  was  Chaplain  in  the  Civil  War,  and 
Hedley  Vickers  and  General  Gordon,  though  sol- 
diers, were  eminent  Christians,  and  Captain 
Webb,  of  early  Methodism,  w^as  a  British  soldier ! 
If  a  mullion  of  our  young  men  were  giving  them- 
selves absolutely  to  fight  for  flag  and  country  w^hy 
should  not  many  Christian  ministers  give  them- 
selves whole-heartedly  to  work  for  Christ  on  the 
field  and  out  on  the  firing  line  among  the  troops, 
— to  protect  morally,  socially  and  physically  the 
boys  whilst  in  camp  and  to  pray  with  them  and 
preach  to  them  the  mighty  Christ,  and  when  the 
battle  wages  hot  and  the  wounded  and  dying  are 
all  about  you  to  point  them  to  Jesus,  comfort  and 
console  them  and  do  everything  possible  to  save 
soul  and  body. 

In  our  meeting  in  Michigan  with  Rev.  G.  W. 
Gordon,  we  had  many  adversaries — especially 
from  the  weather  man.  Snow  storms  and  frost 
are  no  helpful  accompaniments  of  a  revival  meet- 
ing. It  was  impossible  for  many  to  attend,  but  we 
continued  over  Sunday.  When  we  cam.e  to  our  clos- 
ing service  we  were  beseeched  to  stay  a  few  days 
longer.  We  promised  to  stay  until  Wednesday 
and  make  that  an  all-day  meeting.  Wednesday 
came  and  a  good  day  of  blessing  it  proved  to  be. 
As  we  sat  down  to  supper  a  message  came  to  the 
parsonage — I  was  wanted  at  the  telephone.  I 
said  at  once.  "That  means  France."  I  went  to  the 


10 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


phone.  It  was  a  message  from  my  wife  that  a  call 
had  come  summoning  me  to  New  York  at  once. 

That  night  in  the  church  I  attended  my  last  re- 
vival meeting  in  America,  and  before  daylight 
next  mornmg  was  on  my  way  to  Detroit  to  catch  a 
train  for  home. 

Christmas  day  I  ate  dinner  with  my  family,  and 
at  3  o'clock  I  took  the  train  for  New  York,  there 
to  take  steamer  for  PYance.  Many  things  had  to 
be  gotten  together  before  departing.  My  uniform 
and  outfit,  and  especially  my  passports.  Before 
going  you  pass  the  most  scrutinizing  inspection 
of  Washington  for  your  passport,  and  England 
and  France  must  pass  on  you  too,  before  they  let 
you  in  one  of  their  ports. 

After  everything  on  shore  was  adjusted  the 
most  perplexing  movement  was  to  get  on  board 
ship  and,  having  gotten  on  board,  it  was  about  as 
difficult  to  get  off— the  only  possible  thing  that 
could  accelerate  the  exit  would  be  a  German  tor- 
pedo. In  that  event  you  got  off  as  best  you  could, 
without  having  to  hand  out  your  passport  or  take 
an  affidavit  that  you  were  not  a  spy. 

The  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  when  f  crossed, 
v/as  anything  but  pleasant;  dangers  and  perils 
met  you  on  every  hand  and  particularly  so  when 
you  neared  the  war  zone.  The  last  three  days  on 
board  we  dare  not  move  without  our  life  belts. 
We  bore  them  with  us  as  we  sat  down  to  eat,  and 
wherever  we  went,  and  slept  at  night  without  un- 
dressing, and  with  our  lift  belts  close  at  hand. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG.  11 


The  good  ship  "Auronia,"  of  the  Cunard  Line  in 
which  we  sailed,  made  many  a  voyage  in  safety, 
but  eventually  the  Hun  submarine  got  her  later  on 
in  the  season  and  she  sunk  to  her  grave  in  the 
bottom  of  the  sea. 

What  joy  and  delight  there  was  on  board  when 
the  Navy  destroyers  met  us !  It  was  a  great  relief 
and  everybody  breathed  a  sigh  of  relief  now  that 
those  faithful  watch-dogs  of  the  British  Navy 
were  at  our  side  and  would  stay  by  us  till  we 
made  port.  We  had  six  ships  in  our  convoy,  and 
the  destroyers  of  course  had  been  notified  by  wire- 
less of  our  coming.  They  scoured  the  seas  for 
miles  all  around  us  for  the  piratical  submarine. 
They  never  relaxed  for  one  minute  their  vigilance. 
They  bobbed  up  and  dowTi  here  and  there  and  ev- 
erywhere. Woe  betide  the  submarine  that  would 
show  itself  in  our  vicinity  just  now. 

Here  let  me  stop  long  enough  to  speak  a  word  of 
admiration  for  the  incomparable  British  Navy. 
What  wonders  it  has  achieved:  It  blockaded 
Germany  and  bottled  up  the  Germany  Navy,  pre- 
served the  British  Empire  from  invasion,  enabled 
the  British  Empire  to  wage  war  in  ten  different 
parts  of  the  world,  increased  its  tonnage  from 
2,500,000  to  8,000,000,  steamed  in  one  month 
8,000,000  miles,  destroyed  150  submarines,  trans- 
ported 20,000,000  men,  2,000,000  horses,  25,000,- 
000  tons  war  material,  51,000,000  tons  of  oil  and 
fuel,  and  130,000,000  tons  of  food.  Brought  food" 
for  its  46,000,000  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  for 


12 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


its  8,000,000  soldiers,  and  for  the  75,000,000  in- 
habitants of  Italy  and  France.  The  U.  S.  Navy 
became  part  of  this  great  sea  power,  and  of  course 
contributed  immensely  to  its  achievements. 

Our  ship  was  loaded  with  troops^ — ^soldier  boys 
from  all  the  States  were  going  forth  to  the  great 
adventure  across  the  seas.  Also,  there  were  many 
officers.  I  was  talking  one  night  in  the  cabin  to 
a  Major  of  the  Regular  Army.  He  had  spent 
many  years  in  the  service  and  had  traveled  in 
many  parts  of  the  world.  One  thing  that  struck 
one  about  his  conversation  was  that  a  man  to  be- 
come a  good  soldier  must  give  up  everything,  he 
must  abandon  the  idea  of  money  and  other  like 
things,  and  must  give  himself  absolutely  to  his 
profession.  So  Uncle  Sam  is  preaching  today  a 
tremendous  sermon  on  consecration.  He  is 
stretching  an  altar  rail  from  Maine  to  California, 
and  the  boys  are  coming  hundreds  of  thousands — 
yea,  millions — and  they  are  offering  upon  the 
altar  of  patriotism  themselves  and  all  they  have 
and  are — money,  business,  friends,  bright  pros- 
pects— all  go!  Behold,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
Avhat  hesitancy  Christian  people  consecrate  them- 
selves to  their  Lord.  How  unwilling  they  are  to 
place  all  upon  the  altar  and  give  themselves  with- 
out reserve  to  Jesus  and  His  cause. 

WE  LAND  IN  ENGLAND. 

After  a  night  at  Liverpool  we  went  up  to  Lon- 
don, the  great  Capital  of  England,  and  the  seat 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG.  13 


of  the  British  Empire,  and  what  a  country  is  Eng- 
land! 

Many  years  ago  one  of  German's  poets  wrote 
these  lines  on  England,  and  no  doubt,  Schiller,  as 
he  wrote  the  lines  in  reference  to  the  Spanish 
Armeda  meant  every  word  of  it. 

TO  ENGLAND. 

Blessed  island  .  .  .  Queen  of  the  seas  .  .  . 
Who  wrought  for  thee  the  precious  jewel  that 

makes  thee  queen  of  all  the  lands? 
Hast  thou  not  wrung  from  proud  kings  the  wisest 

of  constitutions — 
The  Magna  Gharta  that  makes  citizens  of  thy 

kings  and  princes  of  thy  citizens? 
Thy  proud  sea  power,  has  thou  not  won  it  from  a 

million  rivals  in  the  sea  fight? 
To  whom  dost  thou  owe  it,  ruddy-faced  people  of 

this  earth  : 
To  whom  else  but  thy  spirit  and  thy  sword  ? 

*  *  * 

From  above  God  Almighty  saw  the  proud  live  pen- 
nons of  thy  enemy. 

He  saw  thy  destined  grave  .  .  . 

*'Shall,"  quoth  He,  "thy  Albion  perish,  thy  race  of 
heroes  be  destroyed, 

The  last  rock  bastion  against  oppression  fall  to 
eaii:h, 

The  defence  against  tyrants  be  annihilated  in  this 

hemisphere?" 
"Never,"  He  cried,  "shall  Freedom's  paradise,  the 

shield  of  all  that  is  worthy  in  man  perish !" 


14         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


The  British  Empire  is  world-wide  in  its  control 
— embracing  Canada,  Newfoundland,  Gibraltar, 
Malta,  Cyprus,  Suez  Canal  and  the  Red  Sea, 
Aden  in  Arabia,  India,  Singapore,  Hong  Kong, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  Cape  Colony,  Natal 
and  Sierra  Leone,  ruling  over  450,000,000  souls. 

When  war  broke  out  England  only  had  a  little 
army  of  160,000.  She  raised  an  army  of  7,500,000 
and  lost  in  killed  alone  over  800,000 — live  times  as 
many  as  constituted  her  original  army.  Her 
casualties  during  the  war  were  750,000  more  than 
the  U.  S.  A.  entire  expeditionary  Force  in  France, 
her  total  casualties  (being  2,500,000. 

Emerson's  tribute  to  England  reads  good  to  us 
these  days : 

ENGLAND. 

I  see  her  not  dispirited,  not  weak,  hut  well  re- 
membering that  she  has  seen  dark  days  before; 
indeed,  with  a  kind  of  instinct  that  she  sees  a  lit- 
tle better  in  a  cloudy  day,  and  that  in  storm  of 
battle  and  calamity  she  has  a  secret  vigor  and  a 
pulse  like  cannon.  I  see  her  in  her  old  age,  not 
decrepit,  but  young,  and  still  daring  to  believe  in 
her  power  of  endurance  and  expansion.  Seeing 
this,  I  say.  All  hail !  Mother  of  nations.  Mother  of 
heroes,  with  strength  still  equal  to  the  time;  still 
wise  to  entertain  and  swift  to  execute  the  policy 
which  the  mind  and  heart  of  mankind  require  at 
the  present  hour,  and  thus  only  hospitable  to  the 
foreigner,  and  truly  a  home  to  the  thoughtful  and 
generous,  who  are  born  in  the  soil.  (1856). 


CHAPTER  II. 

A  LONDON  AIR  RAID. 

I  had  been  in  London  twice  before — in  peace 
times.  It  was  a  visbly  different  London  now  with 
the  war  on,  but  with  all  its  sufferings,  limitations, 
restrictions  and  such  like  it  was  truly  remarkable 
the  courage  and  spirit  manifested  by  the  people. 
Of  course  it  was  not  the  London  of  twenty  years 
ago — at  night  everything  had  to  be  darkened,  food 
was  somewhat  scarce,  sugar  was  at  a  premium, 
meat  was  a  rarity,  bread  was  limited,  butter  none 
at  all.  Everything  was  put  on  a  war  basis. 

We  were  not  there  long  before  we  had  a  taste 
of  the  horrors  of  war.  We  were  sitting  in  the  Hall 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  when  the  secretary  came  in  and 
addressed  the  audience  thus:  '*An  air  raid  is 
pending;  you  are  requested  to  keep  your  seats. 
We  will  inform  you  if  there  are  other  instruc- 
tions." 

An  air  raid!  I  had  read  about  air  raids,  had 
imagined  thern — here  I  was  thrust  right  into  the 
midst  of  one  so  soon!  I  went  to  the  door  with 
the  purpose  of  going  out  but  it  was  forbidden  that 
anyone  should  be  on  the  streets  during  a  raid.  I 
at  length  went  out  with  an  officer  who  had  to  re- 
port for  duty  at  a  certain  hour.  I  went  with  him 
as  far  as  the  Police  Station,  and  there  I  got  in 
conversation  with  a  friendly  policeman  who  in- 

15 


16 


TH  ECROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


vited  me  down  in  the  subway  to  see  a  sight.  I 
went  down,  and  what  a  sight!  A  mass  of  hu- 
manity had  gathered  there  from  the  nearby  alleys 
and  tenements,  and  crowded  the  subway.  There 
were  old  men  and  old  women,  young  mothers  with 
nursing  babies,  young  men  and  young  women  and 
little  children.  Some  were  weeping,  some  shiver- 
ing with  fear,  some  fainting,  some  hysterical, 
some  laughing,  and,  I  suppose  some  praying.  Up 
in  the  sky  a  terrible  battle  was  going  on,  and  from 
the  sky  the  bombers  hurled  the  deadly  bombs  that 
meant  destruction  and  death.  The  anti-air  craft 
guns  from  the  ground  were  pouring  their  deadly 
shells  at  the  enemy  planes  above,  but  in  the  dark 
the  shooting  was  largely  at  random. 

That  night  there  were  two  raids.  After  the 
first  was  over  I  went  back  to  my  hotel  and  was  get- 
ting ready  to  retire  when  another  alarm  was 
heard.  I  went  out  and  this  time  there  were  visi- 
ble signs  of  the  damage  wrought  by  the  enemy. 
Just  down  a  short  distance  from  my  hotel  was  a 
great  building  on  fire — the  bomb  had  done  its 
deadly  work,  it  had  hit  the  roof  of  this  big  print- 
ing establishment  and  went  clear  through  the 
building  to  the  cellar  where  over  a  hundred  peo- 
ple had  taken  refuge.  The  majority  of  them  were 
killed,  the  building  set  on  fire,  and  for  awhile  pan- 
demonium reigned.  The  firemen  got  busy  trying 
to  put  out  the  fire  and  they  finally  conquered.  The 
great  building  was  a  wreck  but  they  had  saved  ad- 
joining buildings  from  destruction. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


17 


There  was  a  kindly-hearted  Episcopal  clergy- 
man in  London  who  made  it  his  business,  when 
air  raids  were  on,  to  go  out  and  tiy  to  comfort  the 
distressed  in  his  parish.  This  night  he  himself 
met  his  death. 

This  war  has  developed  forms  of  destructive- 
ness  men  never  dreamed  of.  Science  has  been 
harnessed  to  the  Red  Horse  of  War  and  been  turn- 
ed into  an  instrument  of  fruitfulness  extreme. 

London  has  had  many  troubles  and  dark  days. 
War  has  cast  its  shadows  upon  this  great  city 
many  a  time.  It  has  felt  the  blast  of  the  war  king 
for  centuries  past,  but  never  perhaps,  has  war's 
dreadfulness  come  so  close  to  her  as  in  this  crisis. 

London  was  a  treasure-house  during  this  war. 
She  had  to  bury  many  of  her  treasures.  London 
has  the  greatest  Museum  in  the  world,  but  during 
the  war  it  had  to  be  shut  up  and  its  priceless 
manuscripts  and  books,  brought  down  from  the 
distant  past,  had  to  be  hidden  where  the  incen- 
diary bomb  could  not  destroy  them.  London  has 
the  most  wonderful  Cathedral  in  the  world — 
Westminster  Abbey — portions  of  that,  during  the 
war,  was  closed  to  visitors  because  of  the  priceless 
relics  of  ancient  days  housed  there.  Many  of  the 
statues  in  public  buildings  had  to  be  sand-bagged 
to  preserve  them  in  case  of  air  raids. 

The  London  police  have  a  great  organization 
during  the  war,  and  no  stranger  is  allowed  to 
come  there  or  go  away  without  their  consent.  They 
have  on  their  records  my  history,  my  photograph, 


18 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


my  address,  etc.  They  could  lay  their  hands  on 
me  at  any  time  if  I  did  contrary  to  their  regula- 
tions. 

One  thing  I  was  constantly  reminded  of  as  I 
traveled  about  those  European  countries,  how  im- 
portant a  thing  it  is  to  have  a  good  record  and  to 
so  live  that  you  can  stand  the  strictest  kind  of 
scrutiny.  I  was  reminded  too  that  how  one  stands 
abroad  depends  greatly  upon  his  record  at  home. 
It  further  impressed  me  with  the  fact  that  every 
man's  record  is  being  kept  in  the  sky,  and  the  day 
of  Revelation  is  going  to  be  a  hard  day  on  those 
who  neglected  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  Head- 
quarters. 

London  is  the  city  of  John  Wesley,  and  on  Sun- 
day morning  I  went  to  old  City  Road  Chapel  and 
worshipped  in  the  church  where  the  saintly  Wes- 
ley preached  and  conducted  his  great  Conferences 
with  the  early  Methodist  preachers.  City  Road 
Chapel  keeps  the  same  shape  or  form  of  building 
as  in  Wesley's  days,  but  the  interior  has  been  em- 
bellished and  beautified  by  the  gifts  of  money 
from  Methodists  from  all  over  the  world.  The  old 
pulpit  from  which  John  Wesley  preached  is  still 
there.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  stand  up  in  it.  Out- 
side in  the  church  yard  are  the  graves  of  John 
Wesley,  Adam  Clarke,  Jabez  Bunting,  and  many 
other  famous  Methodist  worthies.  On  the  tomb- 
stone of  Adam  Clarke,  Methodism's  greatest  Com- 
mentator, was  this  inscription  :  "A  man  of  re- 
markable mental  vigor ;  almost  unparalled  indus- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  19 


try  and  of  expansive  and  varied  learning.  A 
Christian  of  deep  and  stedfast  piety,  firmly  at- 
tached to  the  essential  doctrine  and  discipline  of 
Wesleyan  Methodism." 

In  the  afternoon  we  went  to  St.  PauFs  Cathe- 
dral to  worship.  The  service  was  strictly  ritual- 
istic as  was  to  be  expected.  They  have  here  the 
most  famous  boy  choir  in  the  world — the  little  fel- 
lows are  taken  in  charge  very  young  and  then  de- 
vote themselves  entirely  to  the  one  thing  of  fitting 
themselves  for  singing  fit  for  the  King — and  very 
frequently  they  sing  before  His  Majesty  because 
upon  all  State  occasions  such  as  National  Thanks- 
giving, National  humiliation  and  prayer,  etc.,  St. 
Paul's  is  made  the  State  Church  and  Royalty  at- 
tends. Their  music  on  Sunday  afternoon  was 
beautiful,  especially  the  Anthem,  which  embraced 
Hayden's,  "The  Heavens  are  Telling.''  The 
preacher  gave  a  good  gospel  message  from  Paul's 
words,  *T  have  fought  a  good  fight." 

London  has  some  fine  Methodist  movements; 
the  chief  one  being  the  Central  Mission  Westmin- 
ster. It  is  an  immense  structure  devoted  to  great 
religious  enterprises.  On  Sunday  evening  we  at- 
tended a  great  gospel  meeting  there,  which  was 
packed  to  the  galleries  with  a  congregation  of  per- 
haps 8,000  people.  Rev.  Dinsdale  T.  Young,  of 
Wesleyan  Methodism,  was  the  preacher.  One 
thing  we  noticed  particularly  was  the  way  those 
Methodists  sang  the  old-time  hymns,  and  sang 
them  through — not  two  or  three  stanzas  but  the 


20 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


whole  hymn.  One  of  the  hymns  is  a  hymn  of  my 
iboyhood — I  have  not  heard  it  sung  in  many  years. 
Let  me  give  the  first  stanza : 

0  God,  of  good  the  unf  athomed  sea ! 
Who  v^ould  not  give  his  heart  to  Thee? 

Who  would  not  love  Thee  with  his  might? 
0  Jesus,  Lover  of  mankind. 
Who  would  not  his  whole  soul  and  mind, 

With  all  his  strength,  to  Thee  unite? 

They  sang  the  whole  five  stanzas.  The  sermon 
was  one  to  m.ake  a  camp  meeting  shout  over.  In 
fact  at  times  the  preacher  was  interrupted  with 
''Hallelujah,"  'Traise  the  Lord."  It  reminded  me 
of  old-time  Methodism  truly,  and  the  preacher  was 
one  of  the  most  scholarly  and  renowned  preachers 
of  English  Methodism.  Preaching  about  the  fin- 
ished work  of  Christ  he  said,  *'They  say  that  it  is 
old-fashioned  to  preach  that  now.  Well  then,  this 
preacher  is  old-fashioned  and  shall  continue  to  be. 
What  if  I  should  be  called  to  the  Bar  of  God  and, 
instead  of  preaching  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  I 
should  be  charged  with  trying  to  please  the  peo- 
ple." 

A  visit  that  we  made  at  Westminster  Abbey  re- 
vealed many  newly  interesting  things  though  we 
had  made  previous  visits  to  this  most  historic 
Abbey.  One  very  curious  thing  called  to  our  at- 
tention was  a  door  on  the  north  side  which  is 
known  as  Demon's  Door.  It  was  the  custom  al- 
ways to  open  this  door  during  the  progress  of  the 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG.  21 


service  and  keep  it  open  so  that  the  demons  who 
might  be  inside  should  be  driven  out  doors  by  the 
power  of  prayer  and  worship  within.  We  thought 
that  we  knew  not  a  few  churches  in  the  homeland 
w^here  such  a  north  door  would  be  very  handy  if  it 
was  within  the  realm  of  possibility  to  drive  the 
devils  out  through  it. 

London  has  a  great  history  religiously.  It  was 
in  this  great  old  city  that  some  of  the  most  won- 
derful events  in  church  history  have  occurred. 
Here  in  London  the  word  of  God  has  been  sound- 
ed forth  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  was  here  the 
great  Spurgeon  preached  for  many  years  the  pure 
gospel,  the  echoes  of  which  went  throughout  the 
whole  world.  It  was  here  the  Wesleyan  revival 
began,  and  here  at  City  Road  was  the  great  head- 
quarters of  the  Methodist  Movem.ent  which  swept 
through  the  British  Isles  like  flames  of  holy  fire, 
purging  and  purifying  the  nation,  and  which  later 
crossed  the  Atlantic  engirdling  the  American 
States  in  its  arm.s  of  power  and  revivalism. 

But  oh,  shades  of  Wesley!  What  things  have 
transpired  since  thy  day,  John  Wesley  of  old  Lon- 
don I  The  very  nation  and  people  among  whom 
Wesley  went  to  obtain  a  sample  of  pure  primitive 
Christianity  and  where  he  says  he  found  the  very 
best  type  of  Christians,  have  changed  their  God ! 
The  God  of  War  has  supplanted  the  G^d  of  Grace 
and  Glory.  The  word  of  God^ — ^the  old  Bible — has 
been  thrown  aside  for  the  new  learning  and  the 
new  culture,  and  in  consequence  the  whole  world 


22 


THE  GROSS  ANDi  THE  FLAG. 


has  been  thrust  into  an  abyss  of  woe  such  as  was 
never  known  in  all  the  annals  of  time. 

Sad  indeed  it  is  that  the  Germany  of  the  Mo- 
ravians who  taught  John  Wesley  the  way  of  salva- 
tion and  the  Germany  of  Martin  Luther,  who 
was  God's  instrument  in  bringing  on  the  great 
Reformation  and  rediscovering  to  the  Church  the 
great  doctrine  of  Justification  by  faith  should  be- 
come obsessed  by  lust  of  power  and  conquest  like 
the  Huns  and  Attila  of  old  the  "scourge  of  God" 
among  the  nations — ^the  truce-breaker  and  defiler, 
the  hated  among  the  nations  for  her  rapine  and 
carnage,  her  bloody  deeds  and  frightfulness. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  SKIES  IN  PARIS. 

While  the  war  was  on,  when  one  started  for 
Europe,  from  the  moment  he  put  steps  on  ship- 
board until  the  armistice  was  signed,  there  w^as 
absolutely  no  real  safety.  Perils  on  sea,  perils  on 
land,  perils  in  the  heavens!  I  had  gotten  safely 
to  Paris  having  crossed  the  English  Channel  in  a 
crowded  ''packet"  steam.ship,  but  was  not  there 
very  long  before  I  got  another  baptism  of  fire. 
The  Germans  seemed  determined  to  capture  Paris, 
or  destroy  it.  When  they  started  out  in  August, 
1914,  their  objective  was  Paris,  and  they  got  with- 
in 37  kilometres  of  it,  but  God,  in  His  good  mercy, 
stopped  them,  and  they  never  got  any  nearer. 
They  were  marching  at  the  rate  of  40  kilometres 
a  day  for  four  days.  A  German  diary  found  by 
the  French  tells  about  this  march:  'The  men 
stumble  at  every  step,  their  faces  all  begrimed 
with  dust,  their  clothes  in  ribbons ;  they  look  like 
living  rags ;  they  march  with  their  eyes  closed  and 
sing  in  chorus  lest  they  might  drop  asleep  on  the 
road.  The  certainty  of  instant  victory  and  a 
tnumphant  entry  into  Pans  keeps  their  nerves 
taut  It  is  the  ecstasy  of  victory  that  keeps  the 
men  alive.  That  word  Paris  (on  a  sign-board) 
made  them  simply  mad.  Some  hugged  the  sign- 
post with  both  arms ;  others  danced  around  it." 

23 


24         THE  GROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


Paris!  What  a  city  to  fight  for!  No  wonder 
that  in  1870  when  the  Prussians  besieged  it,  rath- 
er than  give  it  up  the  people  of  Paris  endured  the 
most  awful  privations,  until  eventually  with  star- 
vation facing  them  they  surrendered.  Paris  is 
France  reflected  in  a  single  city.  Here  are  her 
artists  and  orators,  her  scholars  and  her  soldiers, 
her  lawyers  and  her  statesmen !  Paris  is  a  city  of 
beauty.  Statues  appear  everywhere,  many  of 
them  are  inspired  by  patriotism,  but  all  are  de- 
signed to  be  decorative  and  magnify  the  artistic 
taste.  Paris  is  the  home  of  the  artists — ^the  at- 
mosphere of  Paris,  it  is  said,  teaches  them  mod- 
eration, clearness,  discipline,  "divine  proportion,'* 
as  Leonardo  calls  it,  but  this  must  be  taken  in  an 
artistic  sense,  not  in  a  moral.  Morally,  Paris  is 
frightfully  unclean.  The  city  is  built  according 
to  plan,  and  no  one  can  build  a  house  there  unless 
willing  to  conform  to  the  general  plan  or  setting 
of  the  given  locality.  Paris  has  few  high  build- 
ings. Skyscrapers  are  unknown  there.  There 
are  no  ^'canyons"  of  high  buildings  such  as  are 
to  be  found  downtown  in  New  York. 

During  the  war  there  did  not  exist  any  ''gay" 
Paris.  It  was  sombre  and  sober  Paris.  At  night 
darkness  unrelieved  by  bright  lights  took  hold  of 
the  city  and  only  glimmering  street  lights  were 
permitted  to  burn.  All  windows  had  to  be  heavily 
curtained  at  night  so  as  not  to  allow  a  single  ray 
of  light  to  creep  outside  because  one  light  might 
point  the  way  into  the  city  of  some  enemy  air- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


25 


plane  hovering  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  Paris 
has  certainly  made  a  reputation  for  itself,  not 
alone  as  the  city  of  art  and  beauty  but  as  a  city  of 
loose  morals.  The  American  Army  drew  a  tight 
line  against  Paris  as  a  leave  center  for  its  men. 
P^or  a  long  period  no  soldiers  were  permitted  to  go 
to  Paris  on  leave — officers  were  also  excluded,  hut 
after  the  Armistice  the  rules  relaxed  some  and 
officers  were  permitted  to  go  there,  and  some  of 
the  privates.  In  order  to  guard  our  men  the  Y. 
M.  C.  A.,  Red  Cross  and  other  American  Institu- 
tions opened  up  hotels,  club  rooms,  etc.,  for  offi- 
cers and  men.  Here  everything  was  on  the 
American  plan — American  meals,  etc.,  and  Amer- 
ican women  supervised  a  good  deal  of  the  work. 
These  places  became  the  natural  rendezvous  of 
Americans.  They  felt  at  home  there,  they  were 
given  good  beds  to  sleep  on,  good  food  to  eat,  good 
entertainments,  and  on  Sundays,  religious  ser- 
vices. No  doubt  thousands  of  Americans  in 
Paris  were  saved  from  falling  into  the  toils  of  the 
strange  women  by  means  of  those  places  provided 
out  of  the  money  of  the  American  people.  Be- 
sides the  above,  when  the  American  soldier  wish- 
ed to  see  Paris  he  did  so  with  the  aid  of  compe- 
tent American  guides  who  took  him  around  to  all 
the  places  worth  while  seeing. 

During  the  war  Paris  was  the  target  of  Ger- 
man's aeroplanes,  and  latterly  of  her  biggest  gun. 
The  Germans  had  invented  a  gun  that  could  throw 
an  immense  shell  seventy-five  miles.    Paris  was 


26 


THE  CROSS  AD  THE  FLAG 


the  target.  That  gun  was  designed  to  terrorize 
the  Parisians  and  was  employed  as  an  adjunct  to 
their  desperate  drive  of  March,  1918.  The  Ger- 
mans thought  that  big  Bertha  would  have  such  a 
psychological  effect  upon  the  Parisians  that  they 
would  become  utterly  discouraged,  they  would  be- 
come broken  in  spirit — ^but  it  did  not  work  that 
way.  The  big  gun  did  some  cruel  damages  to 
Paris — the  most  awful  on  Good  Friday,  when  the 
shell  fell  in  a  church  where  there  were  many 
worshippers  and  many  were  killed,  including  sev- 
eral Americans. 

I  had  not  been  in  Paris  long  before  one  night 
the  alarm  was  given  all  over  the  city  that  an  air 
raid  was  in  progress.  Overhead  we  could  hear  the 
"rat-tat-tat"  of  the  machine  guns  of  the  aero- 
planes as  they  engaged  in  deadly  combat,  from 
the  ground  the  anti-aircraft  guns  poured  forth 
their  deadliest  at  the  invader.  While  the  fighting 
was  going  on  everybody  was  in  suspense — no  one 
could  tell  when  or  where  the  enemy  bomb  might 
fall.  During  this  night's  raid  forty-nine  were 
killed.  A  sad  case  was  that  of  a  French  soldier — 
artilleryman.  He  arrived  home  next  morning  on 
a  ten  days'  leave,  to  find  that  during  this  raid  his 
wife  and  two  children  had  been  killed.  Some 
bombs  fell  in  the  suburbs  but  did  not  do  much 
damage  to  property  or  to  life.  Soon  the  signals 
were  given  that  the  danger  was  past  and  people 
went  back  to  their  homes  and  hotels. 

Those  air  raids  always  had  a  terrorizing  effect 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


27 


upon  nervous  people,  the  weak  and  the  sick,  and 
no  doubt  more  people  died  through  fear  than 
were  killed  by  falling  bombs.  Those  air  raids  of 
the  Germans  reminded  us  of  the  Beast  of  Revela- 
tions 13 :13.  ''He  doeth  great  wonders  so  that  He 
maketh  fire  come  down  from  heaven  on  the  earth 
in  the  sight  of  men."  They  reminded  me,  too,  of 
the  Judgment  Day  when  woes  shall  break  forth 
upon  the  earth  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  their 
sockets  and  all  nature  shall  be  in  convulsions. 

See  the  stars  from  heaven  falling. 
Hark,  on  earth  the  doleful  cry. 

Then  on  rocks  and  mountains  calling. 
While  the  glorious  Judge  draws  nigh, 
''Hide  us,  hide  us. 

Rocks  and  Mountains,  from  his  eye." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


MY  FIRST  RELIGIOUS  WORK  IN  FRANCE. 

My  first  assignment  took  me  to  a  large  Quar- 
termasters Headquarters  Camp  at  Gievres  lying 
between  Tours  and  Blois.  It  was  what  was 
known  as  an  Intermediate  Camp — ^between  the 
base  camps  and  the  front  line  camp.  The  engi- 
neers had  done  a  wonderful  piece  of  construction 
here,  and  it  was  in  this  vicinity  they  were  con- 
structing the  biggest  ice  plant  in  Europe. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  hut  here  was  in  charge  of  Rev. 
Waiter  Murray,  a  Presbyterian  preacher  from 
Philadelphia.  I  continued  here  about  two  months. 
We  slept  in  a  tent  during  those  winter  months, 
but  had  a  stove  in  it,  and  the  last  thing  at  night 
and  the  first  thing  in  the  morning  we  had  a  good 
fire  going.  Every  morning  we  would  rise  at  Re- 
veille, before  daylight,  have  mess  with  the  engi- 
neers, then  come  back  to  the  hut,  get  around  the 
stove  and  have  the  Bible  read,  and  pray  together. 
Mr.  Murray  later  joined  a  fighting  division  and 
met  his  death.  One  day  in  July  he  got  under  shell 
fire,  two  shells  falling  close  to  him  and  he  was 
killed.  They  buried  his  body  near  where  he  fell. 
His  wife  and  children  lived  in  East  Orange,  N.  J. 

In  one  of  my  first  Sunday  services  held  in  the 
hut  here  I  preached  from  the  text,  Hebrew  4:12: 
'Tor  the  word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful,  and 

28 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG. 


29 


sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even 
to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of 
the  joints  and  marrow  and  is  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart."  In  this  mes- 
sage to  the  soldiers  I  endeavored  to  show  that  if 
the  word  of  God  be  so  and  the  Bible  be  true  cer- 
tain things  must  inevitably  follow. 

1.  If  the  Bible  is  true,  sin  cannot  go  unpun- 
ished. Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out.  This  is 
true  of  men  and  of  nations.  Germany  for  her 
high  crimes  against  law  and  humanity  and  against 
God  cannot  go  unpunished.  The  sins  of  Bis- 
marck of  1870  against  the  French  nation  are 
bringing  a  terrible  fruitage. 

2.  If  the  Bible  is  true  man  needs  a  Savior. 
He  cannot  save  himself  or  take  one  sin  away.  He 
needs  a  mighty  Savior  and  he  must  come  to  him 
in  the  terms  of  the  hymn : 

''Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 
But  that  thy  blood  was  shed  for  me, 

And  that  thou  bidst  me  come  to  thee, 
0  Lamb  of  God,  I  come." 

3.  If  the  Bible  is  true  God  answers  prayer. 
There  are  times  in  the  life  of  every  man  when  he 
feels  he  must  pray.  No  human  power  can  help 
him.  The  promise  is  that  God  is  a  rewarder  of 
all  them  that  diligently  seek  Him. 

I  set  myself  to  emphasize  the  religious  idea  as 
soon  as  I  got  to  work  in  France.  I  had  been  a 
preacher  for  twenty-five  years  and  I  felt  that 
while  many  Y.  M.  C.  A.  men  did  not  care  for  that 


30 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


aspect  of  the  work,  yet  some  of  us  must  hold  fast 
to  it.  I  found  among  some  Secretaries  a  very 
cold  disposition  towards  religious  work,  but 
some  of  us  never  wearied,  and  all  through  my 
fifteen  months'  service  I  took  advantage  of  every 
opportunity  to  put  in  religious  work  and  service. 

Apart  from  preaching  and  public  meetings  I 
did  some  Bible  class  work.  In  our  Bible  class 
work  we  sometimes  find  some  splendid  fellows.  I 
met  a  young  man  from  Philadelphia  who  said  that 
until  their  company  got  broken  up  and  separated, 
a  number  of  them  used  to  get  together  out  in  the 
woods  and  have  prayer  meetings.  Another  fine 
young  fellow  from  Michigan  in  my  tent  Monday 
night  had  a  rich  time  in  his  soul  as  he  found  out 
our  little  meeting  place,  and  two  nights  after  I 
went  with  him  about  two  miles  up  to  his  barracks 
where  I  met  about  forty  other  fellows. 

In  my  Friday  night  tent  Bible  class  and  prayer 
meeting  a  young  fellow  from  Philadelphia  gave 
an  interesting  testimony.  He  had  been  going 
through  a  trial  and  was  feeling  quite  dejected 
and  discouraged  all  day.  Toward  evening  the 
mail  arrived  and  brought  him,  from  some  good 
friend,  a  beautiful  Bible  with  this  inscription  up- 
on it :  "Endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Je- 
sus Christ."  He  said  it  seemed  like  a  direct  mes- 
sage to  him.  He  got  blessed.  It  was  another 
proof  of  God's  faithfulness  that  in  the  hour  of 
trouble  and  trial  He  would  remember  us  in  great 
mercies.   Isa.  54:7. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  31 


We  went  the  other  night  to  barracks  of  Com- 
pany   of  to  hold  a  Bible  class  with 

them.  When  we  reached  there  I  witnessed  a  most 
interesting  scene.  The  mail  had  arrived  and  it  had 
brought  letters  that  had  been  looked  for,  for  four 
weeks.  Shall  I  describe  the  scene?  The  barracks 
w^as  lighted  only  by  candles  and  up  against  a  wall 
elevated  on  some  boards  was  the  fellow  who  had 
the  mail  and  another  holding  the  candle  over 
him  so  he  could  see  to  read  out  the  names — ^what 
a  shower  of  letters  some  boys  from  Michigan  re- 
ceived !  Well  suffice  it  to  say  I  had  no  Bible  class 
that  night,  and  no  one  could  blame  the  boys.  They 
wanted  to  read  letters  from  mother  and  father, 
sisters  and  brothers  and  sweethearts. 


CHAPTER  V. 


DOING  FIELD  WORK  ON  HISTORIC  SOIL. 

I  was  assigned  by  the  director  of  religious  work 
in  Paris,  to  do  some  preaching  and  lecture  work 
up  the  Marne  where  Joffre  and  Foch  made  history 
in  1914.  On  my  way  up  by  train,  as  we  arrived  at 
Chalons,  I  saw  my  first  daylight  battle  in  the 
skies.  At  London  and  Paris  I  had  been  thrust 
into  air  raids  but  it  was  night  and  there  was  noth- 
ing visible.  Here  at  Chalons  the  enemy  was  visi- 
ble and  he  certainly  was  given  a  race  for  his  life 
by  the  French.  Chalons  is  a  famous  old  French 
city.  Here  the  Huns  under  Attila,  the  "scourge 
of  God,"  in  the  Fifth  Century  was  defeated ;  165,- 
000  combatants  lay  dead  on  the  field  of  battle  and 
Attila  was  sent  back  into  Germany. 

It  was  close  to  here  in  the  early  days  of  our  late 
war  that  the  Germans  suffered  their  great  initial 
defeat  and  setback  by  Joffre  and  Foch.  It  was 
the  first  battle  of  the  Marne  and  was  fought  out 
for  seven  days,  Sept.  5-12.  The  Germans  had 
900,000,  the  French  and  British  700,000.  The 
British  forces  only  being  one-thirtieth  of  the 
whole  as  their  army  at  this  period  was  a  very 
small  one. 

On  the  night  before  the  opening  battle  Joffre 
issued  to  his  troops  this  message:  ''When  the 
battle  begins  in  which  the  fate  of  the  country 

32 


THE  GROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


33 


begins,  every  man  must  be  reminded  that  the  time 
is  past  for  looking  behind.  When  a  unit  can  no 
longer  advance  it  must  keep  at  all  costs  the  ground 
gained  and  die  v^here  it  stands  rather  than  fall 
back.   No  flinching  can  be  tolerated." 

I  was  preaching  at  Mailly,  also  at  Hausemuth, 
and  in  going  between  the  two  places  I  had  to  pass 
through  Somme  Sous.  It  was  here  I  was  told  that 
Foch  broke  the  backbone  of  the  Germans  in  this 
great  battle  of  the  Marne.  It  was  a  death  strug- 
gle. If  the  Germans  had  won  here  they  would 
have  captured  Paris  next  day.  Paris  knew  this 
and  did  a  most  extraordinary  thing.  The  Gov- 
ernor of  Paris,  Gallieni,  requisitioned  every  taxi 
cab,  automobile  and  such  like  that  he  could  lay  his 
hands  on — 1,000  of  them — and,  contrary  to  ortho- 
dox military  strategy,  emptied  his  garrison  of 
troops  and  sent  them  on  to  help  Joffre  win  the 
battle  of  the  Marne. 

What  saved  the  day  for  the  French  (and  for 
the  Allies  )was  Foch  discovering  a  break  in  the 
German  line  and  driving  a  wedge  through  it. 
After  three  days  of  terrific  fighting  in  which  he 
had  been  beaten  back  time  and  again,  he  sent 
this  cheerf  ul  message  to  Joffre  who  was  then  in 
charge  of  the  French  forces:  "The  situation  is 
excellent,  my  right  is  driven  back,  so  is  my  left, 
I  am  pushing  my  center  forward.'*  It  was  by 
pushing  his  center  forward  that  he  won  the  battle. 

As  I  rode  through  this  piece  of  country,  graves 
of  French  and  German  dead  were  on  both  sides 


34 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


of  the  road,  sad  reminders  of  the  bloody  struggle. 
It  was  while  preaching  in  this  section  that  I  met 
for  the  first  time  some  soldier  boys  who  were  stu- 
dents at  Taylor  University.  It  was  a  delight  to 
meet  them  and  talk  of  old  times.  One  young  fel- 
low, the  son  of  a  preacher  out  West,  was  especial- 
ly desirous  of  meeting  me  and  talking  over  some 
of  his  difficulties.  We  talked  after  the  service. 
I  counseled  him  as  best  I  could,  and  then  under 
the  pine  trees  we  bowed  together  in  prayer  to  the 
Mighty  God  whom  we  felt  to  be  as  near  to  us  in 
France  as  in  America. 

I  remember  my  messages  were  based  largely, 
during  this  trip,  on  Romans  1:16  and  Acts  25:19. 
Before  the  evening  service  I  took  tea  with  the 
Major  and  Chaplain.  Both  of  them  were  devout 
men.  The  Major  was  a  constant  attendant  upon 
religious  services  and  the  Chaplain  was  a  man 
who  had  the  religious  interests  of  the  men  at 
heart.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Secretary  at  this  hut  was 
Mr.  Fitt,  son-in-law  of  the  great  Moody.  It  was 
just  after  Passion  Week  I  visited  this  section,  and 
all  through  Passion  Week  Mr.  Fitt  held  nightly 
religious  services. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  STORY  OF  A  LITTLE  FRENCH  VILLAGE. 

It  was  the  little  village  of  Montribourg  not  far 
from  Chaumonth,  the  headquarters  of  the  Ameri- 
can Army  in  France.  Troops  of  the  Third  Bat- 
talion, Thirty-eighth  Regiment,  Third  Division, 
arrived  there  from  Brest  in  April.  The  village 
was  in  a  pretty  valley  along  the  whole  length  of 
which  ran  a  splendid  stream  of  water.  When  we 
arrived  there  spring  was  just  setting  in  and 
adorning  the  landscape  with  pretty  colors,  flow- 
ers were  just  peeping  out  of  their  places,  birds 
were  beginning  to  sing,  the  meadows  were  turn- 
ing into  a  beautiful  green  and  all  around  nature 
was  doing  her  utmost  to  make  things  pleasant  and 
pretty  for  the  American  soldier  visitors.  The  vil- 
lagers were  not  many ;  some  were  very  old.  There 
were  no  young  men,  they  were  away  to  the  war. 
Of  children  there  were  only  about  a  score  or 
more,  but  a  better  lot  of  children  could  not  he 
found  in  France.  It  did  not  take  the  soldiers  and 
officers  long  to  get  fixed.  I  myself  had  my  hut 
and  headquarters  and  "sleeping  apartments"  in  a 
a  big  stone  barn.  I  slept  overhead  on  the  thresh- 
ing floor  until  the  m.ice  got  too  busy  at  night,  and 
I  found  my  bed  elsewhere  in  one  of  the  homes. 

Soon  the  villagers  and  the  Americans  got  to 
know  each  other  and  the  most  pleasant  relations 

35 


36 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


prevailed — the  French  never  attempted  to  take 
advantage  of  the  Americans  in  prices,  etc.,  and 
the  Americans,  from  the  officers  dov^n,  never 
showed  anything  but  the  utmost  courtesy  to  the 
men,  women  and  children  of  the  village.  I  be- 
came known  in  that  village  by  the  troops  as  "Holy 
Joe,"  and  by  the  children  and  the  villagers  as 
*'Oncle  (Uncle)  George."  The  nickname  **Holy 
Joe,"  was  started  by  some  "regulars"  of  the  old 
army  who  had  a  certain  chaplain  to  whom  they 
gave  that  appellation.  The  boys  generally  took 
hold  of  it  and  as  they  found  it  sometimes  difficult 
to  remember  my  name  they  found  "Holy  Joe" 
quite  handy. 

I  became  "Uncle  George"  to  the  children  be- 
cause I  grew  so  fond  of  them  and  played  with 
them  so  much  and  always  remembered  them  when 
apples  or  oranges  or  any  other  kind  of  goodies 
came  down  to  my  hut.  One  little  girl  by  name 
Louise,  live  years  of  age  and  an  orphan — ^her  fath- 
er was  killed  in  the  war — and  I  became  fast 
friends.  I  grew  very  fond  of  that  little  child. 
She  was  very  shy  and  at  first  would  not  come  near 
a  soldier,  but  eventually  I  won  her  and  she  would 
come  to  me  and  we  would  take  walks  in  the  flow- 
er-bedecked fields,  and  those  two  months  I  was  in 
that  little  village  little  Louise  helped  me  greatly 
to  overcome  homesickness.  That  little  child 
seemed  to  feed  my  hungry  heart.  At  night  when 
at  her  mother's  knee  she  would  say  her  rosary 
(she  was  a  Catholic,  as  all  the  villagers  were) 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  37 


she  would  always  remember  to  pray  for  ''Uncle 
George." 

The  period  we  spent  in  this  little  French  village 
was  a  period  of  training  and  preparation.  Every 
day  the  soldiers  would  go  out  to  the  drill  grounds. 
Their  days  were  busy  ones.  They  rose  at  6  a. 
m.  and  had  mess.  Then  at  8  they  marched  out  to 
the  fields  above  the  village  where  they  drilled  and 
practiced  all  the  varying  arts  and  maneuvers  of 
war  as  it  pertained  to  the  Infantry.  The  officers 
were  a  fine  set  of  men — some  from  the  East, 
some  from  the  West,  some  from  the  South.  Gap- 
tain  Nixon,  the  commanding  officer,  was  a  fine 
soldier.  He  was  in  the  fight  at  Belleau  Woods  and 
was  carried  out  blinded  for  life.  Lieutenant 
Cramer,  from  Kansas  Cit3%  was  a  bright  young 
fellow.  He  was  killed  going  into  Fismes  with  a 
message.  Lieutenant  Johnson,  from  the  South, 
came  from  a  splendid  home.  His  mother  used  to 
write  him  a  letter  every  day.  He  was  killed  in 
the  Argonne. 

I  was  enabled  in  this  village  camp  to  carry  out 
my  own  program  of  activities  and  made  Sunday  a 
day  of  worship  as  far  as  I  could.  We  had  two 
preaching  services  and  Sunday  school  in  the 
afternoon.  Then  once  a  week  on  Wednesday  ev- 
enings, I  held  a  service. 

Very  often  the  French  people  would  come  to 
our  services.  They  liked  to  hear  the  Americans 
sing,  though  they  could  not  understand  the 
meaning.    There  was  a  French  Catholic  church 


38 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


in  the  village,  but  it  could  not  maintain  a  priest 
so  the  people  who  wanted  to  go  to  mass  went  to 
the  neighboring  village  Company.  Among  those 
who  always  attended  our  religious  services  were 
some  Catholics  and  Jews.  I  had  a  few  Jewish 
soldiers  in  that  outfit  who  were  among  the  finest 
fellows  I  have  met  in  the  Army,  and  they  were 
devout  and  thought  of  and  prayed  to  God. 

As  Decoration  Day  approached  we  began  to 
make  preparations  for  a  celebration.  Captain 
McMillan  was  going  to  have  the  companies  assem- 
ble in  the  morning  and  we  were  going  to  remem- 
ber America  even  though  we  were  in  France,  but 
to  the  surprise  of  everybody,  orders  came  in  from 
headquarters  to  move.  Now  up  to  this  time  I  had 
not  been  near  the  front,  but  our  Division  Secre- 
tary, Mr.  Danforth,  told  me  one  day  that  all  Sec- 
retaries who  were  acceptable  to  officers  and  men, 
and  who  did  good  service  would  move  with  the 
troops  when  they  went  front.  I  was  now  equipp- 
ed with  my  helmet  and  gas  mask  and  other  acces- 
sories and  was  ready  to  go  along.  My  trunk  and 
belongings  which  I  could  do  without  were  to  be 
left  behind  with  other  excess  baggage — ^all  that 
I  was  permitted  to  take  was  my  bed  roll  and 
what  things  I  could  carry  along  in  that. 

The  day  we  marched  out  of  that  little  village 
was  a  memorable  one  in  more  senses  than  one. 
The  village  people  hated  to  see  us  go ;  they  said 
"au  revoir"  to  us  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  and  the 
children  cried  too.  Lieut.  Pitts  was  telling  of  one 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


39 


good  soui  who  had  mothered  quite  a  few  of  the 
boys,  that  she  told  him  how  sorry  she  was  they 
were  going.  Oh,  he  said,  other  troops  will  be  here 
after  we  go.  "0,  no,"  she  said,  "we  don't  want 
them,  there  will  never  be  any  like  yours. 

My  little  Louise  clung  to  my  neck  and  kissed 
me  through  her  tears.  We  said  "au  revoir"  and 
departed  and  went  out  from  that  little  village 
where  peace  and  quiet  and  contentment  reigned, 
to  be  ushered  upon  another  scene  within  a  few 
days  where  the  air  was  filled  with  booming  guns, 
where  war  in  reality  was  being  waged,  where 
there  was  hurry  and  confusion  and  congestion, 
and  the  voices  of  Captains  giving  orders,  the 
whirling  of  the  heavy  wheels  carrying  supplies 
and  guns  and  ammunition  to  the  front,  and  the 
smoke  of  burning  towns  annd  villages,  and  the 
flight  of  their  people  with  what  they  could  carry 
away  on  their  backs,  in  go-carts,  in  dog-carts, 
voitures,  etc. 

We  had  intended  the  last  Sunday  we  were  in 
our  little  village  to  have  communion.  The  Chap- 
lain and  myself  had  planned  a  good  program  as  we 
thought.  The  Sunday  before  I  was  preaching  at 
night  to  the  boys  of  two  Companies  on  ''Moses' 
Choice,"  and  I  was  led  to  press  the  subject  of  per- 
sonal decision  for  Christ  preparatory  to  our  Com- 
munion Service.  When  I  called  for  those  who 
would,  four  young  fellows  at  once  responded.  The 
next  day,  after  drill  hours  I  met  one  of  them  and 
asked  him  how  he  had  gotten  on  during  the  day, 


40 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


and  he  said,  'Tine.  I  got  through  today  without 
any  swearing."  Alas,  for  our  Communion  Ser- 
vice and  our  plans  for  the  same !  The  next  Sun- 
day we  were  traveling  and  no  chance  for  anything 
like  religious  services. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  STORY  OF  JOHN  GRACE  OF  THE  ARMY. 

Wlien  the  war  broke  out  John  Grace  was  in 
school  preparing  for  his  life  work  as  a  minister 
of  the  gospel.   He  was  the  only  son  of  his  mother 
and  she  was  a  widow,  but  she  was  a  very  devout 
woman  and  she  sacrificed  much  to  give  her  boy  an 
education  and  fitness  for  life's  work  and  battle. 
John  was  a  good  boy,  he  had  experienced  the  sav- 
ing grace  of  God  in  a  great  revival  held  in  Phil- 
adelphia by  a  noted  evangelist,  and  after  his  con- 
version John  showed  by  his  changed  life  to  his 
comrades  in  the  machine  shop  in  which  he  worked 
after  leaving  school,  that  divine  grace  keeps  a  fel- 
low clean  and  straight,  makes  him  a  good  work- 
man and  a  thorough  man.   John,  sometime  after 
his  conversion,  felt  called  to  devote  his  life  to  the 
ministry  and,  though  to  obey  this  call  meant  the 
surrender  of  a  good  job  and  good  wages,  he  yield- 
ed to  his  conviction  and  started  in  to  prepare  him- 
self for  the  ministry,  but  very  soon  the  war  broke 
out  and  believing  in  the   righteousness  of  the 
cause,  he  'believed  it  was  his  duty  as  a  patriot  to 
offer  his  service  to  his  country  and  not  try  to  es- 
cape the  draft  under  the  plea  that  he  was  a  di- 
vinity student.   At  the  same  time  he  felt  that  he 
could  do  more  good  if  he  should  be  attached  to 
some  branch  of  the  army  where  he  could  aid  the 

41 


42 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


sick  and  wounded,  so  he  joined  the  medical  de- 
partment. He  was  resolved  that  he  would  not  sur- 
render his  Christian  principles  in  the  army ;  that 
he  would  not  hide  his  colors,  that  he  would  seek 
to  b€  a  true  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  as  well  as  a 
good  soldier  for  his  country.  So  when  he  went 
into  the  camp  he  looked  around  for  an  opportuni- 
ty to  serve  his  Master's  cause.  The  camp  was  sit- 
uated at  a  place  where  there  were  no  religious 
services  as  chaplains  were  very  scarce  and  there 
was  nobody  officially  present  to  look  after  relig- 
ious matters.  So  he  sought  out  a  few  fellows  of 
like  mind  with  his  own  and  they  thought  out  a 
plan  for  religious  activities.  There  was  an  old 
church  building  up  in  the  town  which  was  not  in 
use,  and  they  went  around  and  saw  the  trustees 
and  secured  permission  to  use  this  building  for  re- 
ligious service.  They  then  went  to  the  command- 
ing officer  and  secured  his  consent.  The  first  Sun- 
day the  interest  was  excellent.  Officers  came,  sol- 
diers came  and  two  splendid  services  were  held, 
and  thus  for  many  Sundays  John  Grace  brought 
to  his  camp  and  his  comrades  the  gospel,  and  it 
proved  a  great  blessing. 

But  the  pathway  of  John  Grace's  soldier  life 
was  not  always  an  easy  one.  He  had  to  endure 
hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
often  was  he  subjected  to  the  scorn  and  the  scoffs 
of  the  scorner.  On  one  occasion  he  had  to  under- 
go a  very  severe  test.  A  number  of  fellows  one 
night  took  the  wrong  direction,  and  upon  evil  bent 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


43 


went  into  the  forbidden  house  where  bad  women 
lure  and  destroy,  and  whilst  there  the  military  po- 
lice raided  the  place  and  the  soldiers  found  there 
were  summoned  to  appear  next  morning  before 
the  Colonel.  Some  one  in  the  crowd  gave  the  name 
of  John  Grace  and  the  next  morning  his  Sergeant 
said  to  him:  ''Grace,  you  are  wanted  at  the  Col- 
onel's this  morning."  Grace  expressed  his  amaze- 
ment by  saying,  "Wanted  at  the  Colonel's?  What 
for?"  "What  for?"  said  the  Sergeant.  ''Weren't 
you  with  that  bunch  that  got  raided  down  town 
last  night?"  Grace's  reply  was,  "Why,  no,  I  was 
not  there,  I  ^vas  in  my  quarters  early  last  night. 
If  I  am  to  report  at  the  Colonel's,  I  don't  know 
what  for,  but  all  right,  I  will  go." 

The  Sergeant  looked  at  him  square  in  the  face, 
and  to  Grace's  utter  surprise  he  said:  "Grace, 
you  needn't  go,  I  will  go  to  the  Colonel  and  will 
answer  for  you.  I  have  been  watching  your  life 
and  I  am  sure  that  you  wouldn't  be  found  in  such 
a  place  as  that  joint  they  raided  last  night." 

The  Sergeant  was  an  old  army  man,  not  given 
to  much  indulgence  with  his  men,  gruff  and  stem, 
and  this  was  the  first  time  Grace  had  ever  receiv- 
ed any  special  favor  at  his  hands,  but  it  brought 
to  John  Grace  fresh  assurance  that  his  life  in  the 
army  was  telling  for  God,  and  ever  after  this  he 
and  the  Sergeant  have  been  the  best  of  friends. 

A  further  evidence  of  the  worth  of  Christian 
young  men  in  the  army  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
John  Grace  so  conducted  himself  before  his  su- 


44 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


perior  officers  and  gave  such  repeated  exhibition 
of  manly  and  Christian  conduct  that  he  was  grant- 
ed some  privileges  commonly  denied  enlisted  men. 
One  thing,  perhaps  more  than  another,  that  in- 
gratiated him  v^ith  his  chiefs  was  his  unselfish- 
ness and  his  readiness  to  help  the  other  fellow. 
For  instance,  when  Private  Johnson  got  badly 
hurt  and  laid  in  his  billet  where  it  was  almost 
impossible  for  him  to  sleep  John  Grace,  knowing 
his  condition,  reported  as  usual  to  his  quarters 
and  turned  in  but  he  was  concerned  about  his  suf- 
fering comrade  and,  unknown  to  those  sleeping 
around  him,  he  quietly  crept  out  and  went  over 
and  spent  the  night  with  the  hurt  soldier  attend- 
ing to  his  needs  and  alleviating  his  sufferings. 
Grace  had  no  thought  that  anyone  had  observed 
this  action  of  his,  but  someone  had  knowledge  of 
it,  because  a  few  days  after  a  sergeant  remarked 
in  the  presence  of  some  officers:  "Well,  if  it 
hadn't  been  for  Grace  spending  the  night  caring 
for  Johnson  he  might  have  died.'' 

Those  repeated  acts  of  kindness  and  unselfish- 
nes's  on  John  Grace's  part  and  his  all-round 
Christian  conduct  won  for  him  the  esteem  of  his 
comrades  and  the  confidence  of  his  officers.  John 
had  upon  his  heart  to  minister  if  he  could,  to  the 
boys  who  were  in  the  "Mill"  or  camp  prison. 
There  were  not  many,  it  was  true,  but  Grace 
thought  that  perhaps  he  could  do  some  good  to 
them.  So  he  applied  for  permission  to  visit  them. 
He  received  the  following  written  permit: 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


45 


To  the  Officers  of  the  Guard  : 

Private  John  Grace,  A.  C.  No.  7,  has  the  Com- 
manding Officer's  permission  to  visit  prisoners  in 
the  Guard  house  in  the  performance  of  his  duties. 

L.  F.  F., 

First  Lieutenant  U.  S.  Police  Officer. 

Related  as  John  Grace  was  to  the  medical  corps 
he,  of  course,  had  duties  to  perform  in  connection 
with  the  hospital,  but  he  was  not  satisfied  with 
mere  duty.  He  wished  the  privilege  of  visiting 
the  sick  in  hospital  v/hen  off  duty  and  of  doing 
some  little  acts  of  kindness  as  well  as  dropping  a 
word  of  religious  comfort  or  admonition  or  invita- 
tion, giving  a  Testament,  a  tract  here  and  there, 
praying  with  some  fellow  who  needed  comfort  and 
help.  It  was  a  question  in  John's  mind  as  to 
whether  he  would  be  ganted  this  privilege  or  not 
and  it  was  with  some  hesitancy  he  requested  it, 
but  it  was  readily  granted  as  the  following  permit 
will  show: 

"Private  John  Grace,  (M.D.,)  has  permission 
to  visit  the  hospital  w^ards  from  7  to  7 : 30  p.  m. 
whenever  he  desires.  Major  C.  M. 

Surgeon." 

When  I  met  John  Grace  it  w^as  in  camp  where 
things  were  unavoidably  crowded  and  the  men 
were  billeted  in  all  kinds  of  places.  I  met  John 
coming  down  the  street  with  a  bundle  of  hay  un- 
der his  arm  and  he  remarked  to  me,  ''1  am  going 
to  make  me  a  bed.    Come  up  and  see  my  quar- 


46         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


ters."  I  went  in  through  a  narrow  door  which 
led  to  a  crooked  stairway  very  dark.  Up  on  the 
attic  floor  were  the  beds  of  some  eight  or  ten  sol- 
diers and  here  was  where  John  and  I  had  a  good 
heart-to-heart  talk  on  religious  matters  and  things 
of  common  interest.  In  that  old  attic  room  we 
bowed  in  prayer  together  and  prayed  for  one  an- 
other and  the  work  of  the  Lord  among  the  boys 
of  the  American  Expeditionary  Force. 

I  came  from  that  room  thankful  that  young 
men  of  John  Grace's  disposition  are  found  in  the 
Army.  They  are  as  salt,  as  exemplars,  as  lights. 
They  have  to  stand  much  temptation.  Of  course, 
they  have  environments  not  at  all  conducive  to  re- 
ligious life  but  it  is  often  amid  untoward  sur- 
roundings that  the  strongest  Christians  are  built. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


UNDER  FIRE. 

While  on  our  way  to  the  front  the  Germans 
were  putting  across  another  great  offensive  and 
Paris  was  once  again  put  in  great  danger.  Once 
our  train  was  diverted  and  word  came  to  us  that 
we  had  to  go  to  the  defence  of  Paris.  Once  while 
the  train  was  held  for  further  orders  word  was 
passed  on  to  the  troops  that  we  may  have  to  go 
into  action  at  once.  War  v/as  coming  very  close 
to  us  now.  But  the  enemy  was  held,  and  instead 
of  going  to  Paris  we  were  ordered  on  toward 
Chateau  Thierry. 

We  derailed  at  Conde,  and  that  evening  the 
distant  hills  were  covered  with  the  smoke  of  burst- 
ing shells  and  burning  villages,  and  towns.  Just 
think,  France  lost  240,000  houses  during  the  war. 
Conde  was  now  being  emptied  of  its  inhabitants 
because  of  shell  fire.  Evidences  were  on  every 
hand  visible  of  the  awf ulness  of  war,  bombers  had 
done  some  deadly  work  here. 

That  night  I  slept  under  fire  for  the  first  time. 
Our  battalion  was  located  in  the  woods  of  a  fine 
old  Chateau.  We  slept  on  the  ground,  but  though 
we  could  hear  the  roar  of  distant  artillery  that 
night,  no  harm  befell  us  and  I  had  my  first  night's 
rest  under  fire  without  any  mishap  or  losing  any 
sleep.   The  next  morning  all  was  hurry  and  con- 

47 


48         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


jestion.  The  roads  were  lined  with  all  kinds  of 
traffic.  The  French  and  American  troops  were 
together.  I  ate  my  breakfast  with  a  "merchant" 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  from  St.  Louis.  Our  "table'*  was  a 
fence  railing,  but  we  ate  our  bacon  and  hard  tack 
and  drank  our  coffee  with  a  relish. 

We  hiked  that  day  towards  Chezy,  just  over 
from  Chateau  Thierry,  and  I  remember  so  well  my 
first  sight  of  the  enemy  observation  balloon.  Away 
over  about  five  miles  distant  perhaps,  there  it  was. 
Lieutenant  Cramer  said  to  us,  "Men,  you  must 
keep  out  of  sight.  See  over  there  is  the  enemy. 
You  must  not  be  walking  about  where  you  can  be 
observed  or  we  will  have  some  shelling.'' 

I  recall  several  things  about  this  day's  hike.  It 
was  a  warm  day  and  the  boys  had  heavy  packs  to 
carry.  We  halted  at  a  certain  point  where  was  a 
farm  house  by  the  side  of  the  road.  The  boys 
went  in  quest  of  water  to  fill  their  canteens,  when 
an  old  lady  with  a  sweet,  motherly  face  came  out 
with  a  big  pail  of  water  and  two  glasses  and  she 
took  such  delight  in  giving  those  thirsty  boys 
drink. 

When  night  came  on  and  it  was  a  question  as  to 
where  we  should  sleep,  the  officers  went  into  the 
town  and  were  given  beds  in  the  houses  now  vaca- 
ted by  their  owners.  I  was  given  possession  of  a 
whole  house.  I  was  expecting  some  of  the  officers 
to  put  up  with  me  but  they  got  fixed  up  elsewhere, 
so  I  was  given  this  elegant  house  as  mine.  T 
thought  much  of  the  melancholy  aspects  of  war 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


49 


as  I  viewed  this  beautiful  house  left  by  its  aged 
owner  in  the  care  of  a  French  Major  and  of  his 
turning  it  over  to  us  of  the  American  army  for  the 
officers'  use.  Here  is  a  home  having  all  the  evi- 
dences of  wealth,  refinement,  education  and  relig- 
ion. Upon  the  door  is  a  religious  emblem  bearing 
the  words:  '*Car  Jesu  sacratissimum  misere  no- 
bis." The  furniture  and  furnishings  are  the  very 
finest,  room  after  room  is  just  filled  with  the  gath- 
erings of  years  evidently  and  photographs  upon 
the  walls  tell  of  grandparents,  parents  and  chil- 
dren, and  no  doubt  in  this  elegant  home  there  were 
many  delightful  gatherings  of  children  and  grand- 
children. The  court  is  a  thing  of  beauty  planted 
with  fruit  trees  and  profuse  wdth  flowers  of  many 
varieties — ^here  are  poppies  and  primroses  and 
daisies  and  blue  bells  and  lilies  and  the  white  rose 
and  carnations.  And  scattered  beneath  the  cosy 
arbors  are  numerous  seats  and  resting  places. 

Here;  as  I  write,  instead  of  the  laughter  of 
merry  children  and  the  young  folks  and  old  folks 
conversing  'mid  happy  scenes  and  surroundings, 
all  is  desolation.  The  piano  in  the  parlor  is  un- 
opened, the  only  music  now  to  be  heard  is  the  roar 
and  w^hiz  and  burst  of  the  guns.  Just  a  couple 
of  hours  ago,  the  enemy  got  the  range  on  us  and 
threw  a  few  bombs  near  the  church — it  tore  away 
the  roof  of  yonder  house,  but  more  will  be  coming. 
Last  night  I  went  to  sleep  to  the  thunderous  roar 
of  the  guns.  I  was  tired,  as  the  French  would  put 
it,  "tres  fatigue.'*   We   had   marched   quite  a- 


50         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


stretch  and  one  af  the  boys  with  bursting  head- 
ache fell  out  and  I  took  his  pack  (weighing  only 
about  75  pounds)  and  carried  it  for  him  a  distance 
of  perhaps  five  miles  and  therefore  it  did  not  take 
long  for  sleep  to  come  to  me  when  I  lay  me  down 
in  a  soft  feather  bed.  And  though  the  guns  roared 
and  the  concussion  shook  the  windows  and  doors 
yet  I  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just  and  the  unafraid 
and  rose  in  early  morn  rested  and  refreshed. 

That  evening  we  had  orders  to  move.  We  moved 
under  cover  of  darkness,  of  course.  None  of  us 
could  tell  where  we  were  going.  We  went  on  and 
on  till  we  were  halted  by  a  message  from  the  front 
that  we  must  proceed  no  further  but  return.  For 
the  first  time  I  saw  those  night  flares  which  the 
Germans  threw  up  with  such  lightening  effect.  It 
seemed  as  though  none  of  the  allies  had  anything 
that  could  equal  those  German  flares.  They  illu- 
minated the  country  all  around  about  and  tend  to 
give  the  enemy  the  location  of  their  enemies. 

We  were  hiked  back  to  Chezy,  and  I  went  back 
to  find  my  house  occupied  by  officers  and  men  of 
another  outfit.  A  number  of  oflficers  went  in  search 
of  quarters  and  at  length  we  came  to  a  house 
that  we  had  to  gain  access  to  through  the  win- 
dows. It  was  another  splendid  home  with  every- 
thing left  in  the  most  perfect  condition.  Evi- 
dently it  was  the  home  of  a  French  officer  who  had 
spent  much  time  in  Africa  with  the  French  army. 
We  found  delightful  beds  and  had  a  good  night's 
sleep.   It  may  seem  strange   to  the  civilian  in 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


51 


America  that  we  should  take  possession  of  homes 
this  way  but  let  it  be  remembered  that  in  the  war 
zone  everything  is  in  the  hands  of  the  army  and 
they  may  do  with  it  as  they  deem  necessary.  Then 
again,  we  never  can  tell  when  a  town  or  city  in  the 
''zone"  might  be  completely  destroyed  by  shell  fire, 
and  all  those  delightful  rooms,  beds,  furnishings, 
etc.,  ruined.  When  passing  through  those  desert- 
ed areas  the  laws  of  warfare  permit  the  army  to 
make  use  of  things  necessar>^  I  have  thought 
often  of  Chezy  since  that  night.  I  imagine  the 
frightful  bombardment  of  that  Saturday  night, 
July  14th,  w^hich  was  kept  up  for  ten  hours  must 
have  wrought  irreparable  devastation  to  that 
town  which  w^as  just  across  the  river  from  Cha- 
teau Thierry. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CHATEAU  THIERRY. 

We  have  seen  the  army  behind  the  lines  in  the 
great  base  camps  where  seldom  a  gun  is  heard 
and  only  rarely  an  aeroplane  was  to  be  seen.  We 
have  seen  the  troops  in  the  camps  where,  after 
their  arrival  in  France  they  were  taken  for  special 
drill  and  training.  Now  we  are  seeing  the  army 
in  real  action  and  we  write  this  within  the  fight- 
ing zone  just  a  stones  throw  from  the  enemy,  and 
as  we  write  the  boom,  boom  of  gunnery  and  the 
buzzing  of  aeroplanes  fill  the  air  and  every  soldier 
is  constantly  on  the  alert  not  knowing  the  min- 
ute when  he  might  be  called  to  jump  into  the  fray 
and  fight  for  the  cause  which  brought  him  here 
as  well  as  for  his  own  life. 

SHELL  FIRE. 

To  many  of  us  shell  fire  had  been  a  matter  of 
newspaper  and  magazine  knowledge  only,  we  had 
seen  pictures  of  the  thing  and  had  drawn  up  all 
kinds  of  imaginary  notions  of  it,  but  to  behold  the 
real  thing,  to  be  into  it,  to  be  a  dodger  of  the  shells 
as  they  fall  about  you  is  another  thing.  I  have 
been  frequently  on  roads  where  the  shells  had 
been  quite  busy.  The  other  day  I  had  to  go  over  to 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  supply  headquarters  on  the  front  to 
look  after  some  supplies  for  my  companies,  and 

52 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


53 


had  to  go  by  a  road  which  every  now  and  then  had 
shell  holes  in  it,  and  I  could  never  tell  when  an- 
other shell  might  fall  behind  me  or  in  front  of  me 
and  one  felt  a  bit  as  though  he  was  pursued  by  an 
unseen  enemy,  and  a  feeling  of  comfort  hardly 
came  back  till  I  was  completely  without  range  of 
German  positions  and  could  no  longer  be  seen  by 
their  powerful  field  glasses.  They  have  been 
known  to  shoot  at  individuals  even  with  shells. 
Some  engineers  were  telling  me  the  other  day  they 
were  engaged  doing  a  piece  of  work  when  shell 
after  shell  followed  them.  Somehow  when  in  the 
zone  one  learns  the  knack  of  knowing  how  to 
"duck"  or  dodge  the  shells  when  they  come  along, 
and  thank  heaven,  as  a  general  thing  you  can  hear 
the  whistle  of  the  thing  a  few  seconds  before  it 
hits  the  ground,  and  this  gives  you  a  chance,  if 
you  are  quick,  to  jump  into  a  dug-out  or  behind  a 
rock  or  tree,  or  throw  yourself  prone  on  the 
ground,  and  yet  this  does  not  always  insure  safety. 
The  other  day  a  fine  young  fellow  who  had  gone 
through  the  spring  drive  in  safety  lost  his  life  just 
a  little  down  the  line  from  my  dug-out,  because 
the  shell  hit  a  little  too  close  to  where  he  had 
jumped.  His  chum  got  it  likewise  and  lived  only 
a  few  hours  after,  but  it  is  surprising  how  coolly 
our  boys  take  these  things.  It  is  a  rare  thing  to 
find  a  fellow  that  is  scared.  Yesterday  I  was 
visiting  various  platoons  and  dealing  out  some 
Y.  M.  C.  A  supplies  to  them  when  shells  were 
screeching  over  our  heads.   Sometimes  they  came 


54         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


a  bit  too  close  but  through  it  all  the  fellows  were 
as  full  of  humor  as  though  nothing  was  happen- 
ing. I  think  it  can  be  written  down  that  the 
American  soldier  is  not  afraid  of  danger  and  as 
he  nears  the  firing  line  the  more  nerve  he  seems 
to  get.  A  Lieutenant  said  to  me  last  night  that  it 
was  a  great  surprise  to  him  as  his  men  came  into 
real  action  to  find  some  fellows  who  were,  in  ordi- 
nary times,  considered  no  good  that  they  proved 
to  be  fellows  of  courage  and  daring,  and  volun- 
teered for  the  most  dangerous  service  when  oocca- 
sion  arose.  I  went  down  with  a  Sergeant  to  see  a 
Lieutenant  on  the  front.  When  I  got  there  I  met 
a  number  of  the  boys  whom  I  had  not  seen  for  a 
week  or  more,  the  companies  having  been  sepa- 
rated by  several  kilometres.  They  were  glad  to 
see  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  man  again,  and  then  told  me  how 
much  they  liked  the  very  front  lines.  They  pre- 
ferred it  to  the  rear.  Just  across  were  the  enemy 
positions,  within  a  stone's  throw  almost,  and  the 
little,  and  once  prosperous,  happy  town  lay  empty 
and  dejected  with  its  fine  church  a  wreck  and  its 
people  fied,  no  one  knows  where.  Such  is  war! 
And  I  thank  God  that  the  one  thing  that  is  bring- 
ing Americans  over  here  is  to  protest  against  this 
kind  of  thing  and  make  it  possible  that  Europe 
can,  after  this  war  is  over,  live  without  the  fear 
that  at  any  moment  war  lords  who  make  war  a 
business  shall  not  project  upon  humanity  another 
such  calamity  as  world-wide  war.  Though,  at  the 
same  time,  I  have  my  doubts  whether  wars  will 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


55 


ever  be  a  thing  impossible  as  long  as  sin  is  in  the 
human  heart  and  the  devil  is  doing  business. 
France  has  hardly  known  fifty  years  straight  his- 
tory without  war.  It  is  to  be  hoped  she  may  go 
centuries  without  another,  and  England  also,  and 
America. 

LIFE  IN  A  DUGOUT. 

To  live  in  a  dugout  is  an  experience  rather  un- 
usual indeed.  One  feels  a  bit  of  surprise  at  times 
at  the  way  men  take  to  this  kind  of  thing  when 
it  becomes  a  necessity  of  war  as  well  as  a  matter 
of  safety  and  protection.  I  have  seen  men  living 
in  holes  in  the  ground,  in  holes  dug  out  of  the 
side  of  the  bank  as  well  as  in  the  larger  dugouts 
capable  of  holding  quite  a  number.  A  friend  of 
mine,  a  professor  of  languages  from  down  south, 
has  his  abode  in  a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  the  captain 
has  the  same.  I  am  with  several  Lieutenants,  and 
a  Captain  in  a  large  dugout.  The  advantage  of  a 
dugout  is,  you  are  protected  from  shell  fire,  and 
then  the  enemy  aeroplanes  cannot  locate  you  and 
you  can  sleep  free  from  the  feeling  that  bombs 
might  get  you  as  you  sleep. 

I  have  thought  frequently  of  those  words  of  Jer. 
49:8,  ''Dwell  Deep,"  as  I  have  come  in  contact 
with  the  dugout  outfit.  It  is  a  good  thing  on  the 
danger  line  to  dv^ell  deep.  Spiritually  it  is  like- 
wise so.  The  soul  that  dwells  deep  in  God  may 
have  a  thousand  enemies  pursue  it  but  is  safe 
from  the  enemy.  Moses  dwelt  deep  in  God,  and 
Enoch  and  Elijah  and  Daniel  and  Paul.  Though 


56 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


all  the  world  was  against  them  and  the  "times" 
were  opposed  to  them  their  refuge  was  in  God  and 
they  dwelt  safely.  Life  in  a  dugout  is  very  sim- 
ple. Lots  of  things  you  don't  have  to  do;  you 
don't  have  to  sweep  the  floors  or  dust  the  furni- 
ture or  be  careful  of  the  furnishings,  and  then  you 
are  not  so  very  particular  about  the  matter  of 
attire.  There  are  no  tailors  around  the  corner  to 
press  your  uniform,  and  as  you  have  to  sleep  witn 
your  clothes  on  ready  to  jump  up  and  out  in  a  mo- 
ment if  need  be,  you  don't  grow  very  particular, 
and  then  as  you  never  meet  any  of  womankind  you 
don't  mind  being  a  bit  rough  in  appearance  for  the 
time  being.  Then  again,  you  don't  have  to  be  over 
careful  about  the  dining-room.  Your  eating  uten- 
sils are  neither  china  nor  glass,  but  tin  or  alumi- 
num, and  your  dining  table  may  be  a  box,  or  a 
rock,  or  a  patch  of  straw.  You  have  to  forego 
napkins,  etc.,  but  invariably  you  have  a  good  ap- 
petite and  are  always  ready  when  mess  time 
comes  around. 

The  other  night  I  had  to  visit  a  company  quite 
a  distance  away,  and  in  reaching  them  I  had  to 
pass  through  some  very  interesting  bit  of  terri- 
tory, and  in  returning  had  to  meet  many  a  guard 
who,  in  compliance  with  his  orders,  halted  with 
bayonet  fixed  and  pointed  at  everyone  who  came 
by.  The  important  thing  at  a  moment  like  that 
is  to  stand  still  and  not  move  till  told  to  advance 
with  the  countersign.  I  of  course  had  the  coun- 
tersign and  was  permitted  to  pass,  arriving  back 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  57 


at  my  dugout  about  midnight.  I  had  no  sooner 
laid  down  than  the  gas  alarm  was  sounded  and  a 
Lieutenant  rushed  in  and  yelled  ''Gas."  This  is  a 
cry  often  heard  within  the  war  zone,  and  woe  to 
the  soldier  who  neglects  to  heed  the  warning.  In- 
stantly I  grasped  my  gas  mask  and  put  it  on.  For- 
tunately this  was  not  a  severe  attack  and  none  of 
us  had  to  Iceep  the  uncomfortable  gas  mask  on 
very  long. 

SOME  MORE  THINGS  ABOUT  THE  WAR. 

About  this  war  there  is  not  much  of  the  poeti- 
cal, it  is  nothing  but  practical  drab  v/ar  with  no 
brass  band  attachments.  Often  we  read  of  the 
soldier  marching  into  battle  with  flags  flying  and 
bands  playing,  etc.  Not  so  in  this  war.  You  nev- 
er hear  the  band  play  within  the  war  zone,  and  the 
musicians  them.selves  are  called  upon  to  be 
stretcher  bearers  and  perform  other  duties.  There 
are  no  flags  flying,  because  it  is  important  that 
your  positions  should  not  be  known  by  the  enemy 
who  has  his  aeroplanes  flying  all  over,  observing 
all  movements,  besides  there  are  observation  bal- 
loons constantly  being  employed  and  the  man  sit- 
ting up  in  that  observation  seat  with  his  balloon 
attached  to  the  ground  can  see  for  many  miles 
with  his  all-powerful  glass  all  that  is  going  on. 
The  other  day  I  was  passing  through  some  coun- 
try where  the  artillery  was  located.  The  men  who 
operated  those  guns  were  far  behind  the  actual 
scenes.  They  really  knew  nothing  themselves  as 
to  how  things  were  going,  and  every  shot  was 


58         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


fired  at  the  direction  of  the  man  at  the  telephone 
and  he  in  turn  got  his  instructions  from  the  man 
at  the  observation  point,  and  that  may  be  in  an 
aeroplane,  a  balloon,  or  some  other  vantage  point. 
The  gunner  is  an  important  factor  in  war,  but  one 
is  struck  by  the  fact  that  he  does  all  his  v^ork  un- 
observed and  hidden  in  a  place  where  it  is  impos- 
sible for  him  to  make  observations.  To  me  this 
illustrates  many  points  in  religious  warfare.  Some 
of  the  most  important  work  has  to  be  done  away 
from  the  limelight  where  the  public  eye  cannot 
see  and  where  there  can  be  gotten  no  inspiration 
from  the  crowd.  Many  a  saint  on  his  knees  un- 
observed by  anyone  except  God,  does  a  greater 
work  for  the  kingdom  than  many  a  one  who  wins 
the  plaudits  of  the  crowd.  Daniel  alone  in  his  se- 
cret chamber  praying  three  times  a  day  did  more 
to  promote  religion  in  Babylon  than  all  the  lords 
and  grandees  in  the  kingdom.  Father  Nash  pray- 
ed down  more  revivals  of  religion  than  a  battal- 
ion of  time-serving  preachers  could  bring  to  pass 
in  a  thousand  years.  Then  in  gunnery  I  am  re- 
minded that  all  the  directions  come  from  someone 
above.  The  gunner  does  not  act  on  his  own  ini- 
tiative, but  does  as  he  is  told  to  do  by  the  one 
aibove — ^he  is  given  the  exact  direction,  the  dis- 
tance, the  range,  and  away  he  sends  the  fatal  bul- 
let and  it  is  wonderful  to  behold  the  exactness 
with  which  the  gunner  strikes  his  blows.  I  passed 
a  big  farm  house  yesterday  which  was  literally 
hacked  to  pieces  by  artillery  fire.   It  was  an  im- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  59 


portant  point  and  its  destruction  was  a  matter  of 
necessity. 

Then  I  observe  the  artilleryman  is  required  to 
be  faithful  unto  death.  Recently  I  passed  an  ar- 
tillery embankment  no  longer  in  use  but  beside  it 
was  a  grave  and  it  bore  a  wooden  cross  upon  it 
with  the  inscription  in  French,  ''Here  lieth  Bour- 
nard  Pascal,  Cist  Artillery,  who  died  for  France.** 
The  date  was  also  given  and  his  soul  was  commit- 
ted to  God.  A  number  of  American  artillerymen 
in  the  recent  battle  have  been  cited  for  bravery. 
One  gunner  is  named  especially-— his  whole  gun 
crew  had  been  wiped  out  and  he  himself  was  se- 
verely wounded  by  a  shell,  he  crawled  to  his  com- 
pany commander  and  asked  for  other  men  to  man 
the  gun,  and  then  crawled  200  yards  to  turn  in 
parts  of  the  gun  he  carried  in  his  pocket.  The 
gunner  often  takes  his  life  in  his  hands — ^he  con- 
secrates himself  to  the  very  death  if  need  be,  and 
many  seal  their  devotion  with  their  blood.  We 
are  reminded  just  here  of  Rev.  2:10,  "Be  thou 
faithful  unto  death  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of 
life,'*  which  in  the  French  Testament  reads  thus : 
''Sois  fidele  jusqua  la  mort  et  je  te  donnerari  la 
couronne  de  vie.** 


CHAPTER  X. 


MOVING  TOWARD  THE  BATTLE  LINES. 

After  leaving  Chezy  we  were  marched  into 
Courban  where  we  tarried  for  over  a  week.  It 
was  here  we  had  our  first  gas  alarm.  The  ene- 
my was  shelling  us  with  his  long  range  guns,  and 
every  day  his  aeroplanes  would  fly  over  us  and  not 
infrequently  did  we  witness  a  fight  in  the  air  be- 
tween the  Allies  and  the  Germans.  Several  times 
also,  did  we  see  our  observation  balloons  go  up  in 
flames  from  the  bullets  of  enemy  air  craft  sent 
out  to  destroy  them.  The  observer  in  the  basket, 
when  he  saw  his  balloon  was  doomed,  would  cut 
the  ropes  of  his  basket  and  his  parachute  arrange- 
ment would  land  him  eventually  on  the  ground. 

One  day  I  saw  a  poor  fellow  about  to  descend 
from  his  burning  balloon  when  alas !  his  parachute 
caught  an  fire.  Of  course  he  descended  to  his 
death.  Referring  to  the  gas  alarm  at  Coboum, 
we  had  been  warned  that  gas  might  come  our  way 
any  day.  On  this  particular  night  I  was  sleep- 
ing on  the  ground  beside  the  Captain  and  was  fast 
asleep  when  about  midnight  the  dre'adful  cry 
"gas"  was  raised — the  gas  songs  rang  out.  I 
awoke  immediately  and  proceeded  to  put  on  my 
gas  mask.  Fortunately  this  alarm  was  not  an  at- 
tack.  In  a  few  minutes  orders  were  given,  *'re- 

60 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


61 


move  gas  masks/'  I  shall  never  forget  that  gas 
cry  however!  Many  a  time  soldiers  have  been 
caught  napping  when  the  gas  attack  came  on  and 
they  died  before  getting  their  gas  masks  adjusted. 
Some  gas  is  more  dangerous  than  others.  Some 
will  injure  you  but  not  kill.  Some  will  work  on 
you  gradually — you  take  it  in  unawares.  Its  ef- 
fects appear  hours  after  when  your  lungs  feel  as 
though  they  would  burn  and  burst.  I  have  seen 
gas  infected  soldiers.  They  were  unable  to  walk, 
they  gasped  for  breath,  they  acted  as  though  they 
were  choking.  Their  sufferings  rendered  them 
unconscious  of  their  surroundings.  I  can  recall 
one  of  our  own  men  who  got  gassed  heavy  at  the 
Battle  of  the  Marne.  They  brought  him  down  to 
the  dressing  stations.  He  was  crjang  like  a  baby 
and  calling  out  for  his  Captain ;  crying  plaintively, 
"Captain  Smith,  Captain  Smith!'' 

While  at  Courbon  one  day  the  German  guns 
broke  loose  on  us  and  gave  us  another  exhibition 
of  the  kind  of  regard  the  Hun  has  for  the  church- 
es, for  bis  gun  evidently  was  trained  on  the 
church,  and  the  shell  struck  the  edge  of  the  tower, 
but  did  not  damage  the  building.  A  remark  made 
by  an  officer  set  me  to  thinking:  "When  under 
shell  fire  keep  away  from  the  church  because  the 
Huns  get  their  range  on  the  town  from  the 
church."  This  was  a  very  sensible  remark,  be- 
cause generally  in  the  French  towns  the  church  is 
located  right  in  the  center  of  things. 

It  led  me  to  think  away  from  immediate  things 


62         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


and  to  think  of  the  Church  of  God.  And  true  it 
is  that  when  evil  is  raging,  the  church  comes  in 
for  the  heaviest  shelling  from  helFs  artillery,  and 
particularly  is  this  true  when  it  is  purposed  to 
make  the  church  the  center  of  things  and  to  put 
''Jesus  in  the  midst." 

From  the  days  of  Pentecost  down  to  the  present 
day,  the  Church  of  Christ  has  had  to  stand  the 
heaviest  artillery  onslaughts  of  the  Wicked  One 
when  she  has  been  most  devout,  most  prayerful, 
most  zealous  for  righteousness  and  holiness.  Hell 
tried  to  destroy  the  church  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles,  tried  again  in  the  dark  ages,  tried  again 
in  the  age  of  Luther  and  Cranmer  and  Bunyan,  in 
the  days  of  the  Inquisition  and  the  Armada;  but 
despite  it  all  the  church  lives  on  and  the  words  of 
the  Master  come  back  to  us  vnth  enforced  mean- 
ing :  will  build  my  church  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it.'' 

One  day  we  got  orders  to  move  on  closer  to 
the  lines.  I  remember  the  Captain  saying  to  me : 
"We  are  going  to  a  quiet  place.  It  is  in  a  fine 
woods  which  has  not  been  shelled,  I  think,  we  are 
going  to  have  a  nice  time  there  and  you  will  like 
it.''  Little  did  any  of  us  think  that  we  were  go- 
ing up  to  the  hottest  place  we  struck  during  the 
war,  and  where  we  shall  receive  our  first  bloody 
baptism  in  this  war.  We  moved  always  at  night. 
In  actual  live  warfare  there  is  not  much  podtry. 
It  is  dreadful  prose.  I  saw  a  picture  in  the  ''Lit- 
erary Digest"  last  fall  showing  troops  being  led 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


63 


up  front  headed  by  a  brass  band !  Such  a  thing 
would  be  absurd  and  the  man  who  put  that  thing 
together  must  have  dreamed  things,  not  \^dtnessed 
them  on  battle  fronts.  Oh  no,  we  are  not  led  into 
front  lines  and  into  battles  by  bands  of  music.  We 
march  at  night,  and  in  the  dead  of  night.  This 
was  a  dark  night  when  we  moved  into  and  up  that 
hill  between  St.  Eugene  and  Crezancy  on  the 
Marne.  When  we  reached  the  woods  it  was  so 
densely  black  that  we  could  hardly  see  where  we 
were  going.  Occasionally  v/e  caught  sight  of  a 
French  soldier — we  were  relieving  the  French 
that  night. 

When  we  got  in  the  woods  orders  were  given  to 
lie  down  just  where  we  were  and  make  the  best 
of  it  till  morning.  This  w^as  July,  and  fortu- 
nately the  nights  were  not  very  long  and  the 
morning  broke  early.  Numerous  dugouts  were  in 
these  woods  and  some  of  the  stopping  places  of  the 
French  officers  and  men  who  held  this  place  prior 
to  our  coming  into  it  were  artistically  fixed  up. 
The  French  are  artistic  even  when  it  comes  to 
war.  They  had  all  manners  of  rustic  seats,  tables, 
etc.,  located  in  pretty  bowers.  I  had  my  canteen 
located  in  one  of  those  bowers  and  slept  on  the 
ground.  The  days  were  delightfully  summer  like, 
the  nights  were  short  but  noisy.  Our  hill  was 
lined  with  artillery,  and  it  was  always  particular- 
ly active  at  night.  Some  nights  the  guns  did  over- 
time and  time  and  again  the  vibration  from  the 
guns  would  shake  the  ground  upon  which  I  was 


64 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


sleeping  and  I  would  be  roused  from  sleep.  One 
gun,  a  naval  gun,  was  particularly  noisy.  One 
night  the  noise  became  so  suddenly  terrific  that 
I  jumped  up  and  ran  over  to  inquire  of  the 
Lieutenant  what  was  happening. 

Days  wore  on  till  things  began  to  assume  a  se- 
rious aspect.  Orders  went  all  over  the  camp  to 
''dig  in."  The  men  were  set  to  work  at  dugouts. 
Every  man  had  to  be  provided  for  sleeping  in  a 
dugout.  This  was  a  very  fortunate  order  as 
events  proved.  If  we  had  not  "dug  in''  our  casual- 
ties the  night  of  July  14  would  have  been  im- 
mense. If  I  had  slept  that  night  on  the  ground 
instead  of  in  a  dugout  I  would  not  have  been  alive 
next  day  to  tell  the  story.  The  place  where  my 
canteen  was  and  where  had  been  my  former  sleep- 
ing place  had  been  hit  by  several  shells  and  my 
goods  were  scattered  pell  mell. 

An  attack  was  expected  Sunday,  July  7th. 
There  were  many  signs  of  activity  among  the  Ger- 
mans, and  both  French  and  Americans  looked  for 
the  offensive  on  Sunday  night,  July  7th,  but  that 
night  passed  by,  but  in  another  week  the  battle 
raged  in  all  its  fury. 


CHAPTER  XL 


MY  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE. 

Since  writing  my  last  I  have  had  an  experience 
that  will  be  engraven  upon  my  memory  as  long  as 
that  faculty  continues  to  exist.  I  have  often  read 
of  battles  and  have  imagined  what  they  are  like. 
I  have  thought  at  times  that  I  should  like  to  be  a 
distant  spectator  of  one,  but  I  hardly  thought  so 
soon  that  I  would  be  right  into  the  heart  of  one, 
and  endure  shell-fire  and  all  other  things  that  go 
with  it,  and  then  through  the  good  providence  of 
God  come  out  of  it  safely. 

Yes,  I  came  out  of  it  whole,  but  considerably 
broken  in  strength  and  nerve,  so  much  so  that  as 
a  result  of  keeping  on  my  feet  in  service  during 
the  first  w^eek  of  battle,  I  finally,  on  the  second 
Sunday  afternoon  after  being  under  heavy  shell- 
fire  again,  had  to  give  up  and  go  to  the  rear  and 
spend  a  few  days  in  the  hospital  resting  up. 

The  battle  which  may  be  know  as  *The  Battle 
of  Chateau  Thierry,"  or  otherwise  spoken  of  as  the 
'The  Second  Battle  of  the  Marne,"  began  Sunday 
midnight,  July  14.  This  w^as  the  great  French 
holiday — ^their  Fourth  of  July.  Possibly  the  Ger- 
mans took  advantage  of  that  event,  thinking  that 
they  might  find  the  French  off  guard,  but  the  fact 
was  the  French  were  looking  daily,  almost  hourly, 

65 


66 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


for  the  attack.  We  all  expected  it  July  12,  our 
troops  were  ready  and  waiting  for  it.  On  the 
previous  Sunday,  July  7,  we  all  felt  it  was  close 
at  hand,  and  preaching  on  that  day  to  our  men  I 
used  the  text  in  Samuel,  "Be  of  good  courage  and 
play  the  man,''  etc.  Sunday  evening  of  the  battle 
1  preached  on  ' 'Proclaim  liberty  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants,*' etc.  That  was  my  last  message  to  many 
Americans.  Many  died,  many  were  wounded,  a 
few  were  made  prisoners. 

I  went  to  my  dug-out  about  eleven  o'clock  Sun- 
day night  and  laid  down  to  sleep.  I  was  all  alone 
as  the  soldiers  were  busy  at  night  in  preparation 
for  the  impending  attack.  At  midnight,  all  of  a 
sudden,  there  was  the  roar  of  cannon  on  all  sides. 
'Cannon  answering  to  cannon,  and  Germany  put 
across  on  our  territory  and  troops  one  of  the  most 
terrific  bombardments  known  since  Verdun — in- 
deed some  of  the  French  officers  who  had  been  at 
Verdun  declared  that  it  was  equally  as  ferocious 
as  Verdun.  For  several  days  we  had  poured  into 
the  German  ranks  thousands  of  shells — one  night 
10,000  shells,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  surprise  to 
many  of  us  that  they  had  made  no  reply,  but  evi- 
dently the  Germans  saved  everything  for  their 
one  grand  offensive  of  July  14  and  15.  When  they 
opened  their  batteries  on  the  American  and 
French  positions  that  night  it  was  something  al- 
most indescribably  furious. 

The  Third  Battalion,  38th  Regiment  with  which 
I  was  connected  were  up  on  a  hill.  The  Germans 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


67 


evidently  left  no  spot  within  a  dozen  or  fifteen 
kilometers  from  their  lines  untouched,  but  the 
particular  zone  in  which  the  troops  and  artillery 
were  located  was  the  place  to  w^hich  they  paid 
special  attention.  They  sent  over  little  shells,  big 
shells,  gas  shells,  and  all  other  kinds  of  things, 
w^hile  their  aeroplanes  bombed  us  from  the  sky. 

What  is  a  bombardment  or  barrage  like,  do  you 
ask?  Well,  it  is  somewhat  hard  to  describe  it. 
This  one  was  like  a  hail  of  iron.  The  shells  came 
thick  and  fast.  As  I  sat  there  in  my  dug-out  all 
alone  and  for  hours  keeping  my  gas  mask  on  be- 
cause many  shells  were  the  horrible  gas  shells,  I 
could  hear  the  shells  as  they  came  with  thunder- 
ous force  and  broke  all  around  me.  I  could  dis- 
cern also  from  the  sound  that  they  were  ap- 
proaching my  dug-out  and  soon  they  would  be  ex- 
ploding all  around  me.  That  wonderful  old  hymn 
of  Wesley's  came  to  me  with  special  emphasis  and 
blessing — with  little  changes  in  the  words. 

''Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul. 

Let  me  to  Thy  bosom  fly. 
While  the  nearer  (terrors)  roll 

While  the  tempest  still  is  high 
Hide  me  0  my  Saviour,  hide, 

Till  this  storm  (of  shell)  is  past; 
Safe  into  the  (morning)  guide, 

0  (protect)  my  soul  at  last." 

Then,  as  the  thud  of  the  shells  fell  close  to  me  and 
I  felt  them  coming  closer  to  me,  my  prayer  was, 


68 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


"Cover  my  defenseless  head 
With  the  shadow  of  Thy  wing." 
At  length  some  shrapnell  hit  the  roof  of  my 
dug-out  and  the  dirt  began  to  tumble  down.  I 
drew  nearer  the  entrance  when  another  hit  struck 
it  on  the  edge.  I  then  thought  it  was  time  to  get 
out  and  seek  some  safer  refuge  if  possible.  So  I 
climbed  out  and  made  the  most  rapid  flight  to  the 
captain's  dug-out,  which  was  more  solidly  con- 
structed. When  I  arrived  there  it  was  full  and 
there  were  several  wounded  men  in  it.  It  was 
now  morning  and  the  shelling  was  subsiding  just 
a  little.  As  I  sat  there  I  saw  and  heard  things 
which  showed  up  wonderfully  the  American  spirit 
in  this  war.  I  saw  runners  (despatch  carriers 
from  one  point  to  the  other)  come  in  and  go  out 
in  the  midst  of  this  hail  of  fire  in  fulfilment  of 
their  duty.  Some  were  wounded,  some  were  killed 
and  some  escaped  unhurt.  An  officer  came  in  and 
reported  to  our  Captain  that  the  enemy  had  cross- 
ed the  river  and  were  coming  up  our  hill.  What 
did  the  Captain  say,  think  you?  This  is  what  he 
said,  "We  are  here  to  hold  this  hill  to  the  last 
man.  Lieutenants,  call  out  your  men  and  get  them 
to  take  up  their  positions."  Instantly  the  Lieuten- 
ants,went  out  and  blew  their  whistles  and  their 
men  came  from  their  dug-outs — those  that  es- 
caped from  being  wounded — and  I  saw  those 
American  soldiers  go  forth  to  their  trendhes  and 
positions  in  the  teeth  of  one  of  the  heaviest  ar- 
tillery barrages  the   Germans   ever  put  across. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


69 


These  men  were  a  part  of  the  38th  Regiment  which 
did  the  heaviest  fighting  and  contributed  more  to 
the  undoing  of  the  Huns  in  this  offensive  than  any- 
other  troops  on  the  battlefield.  It  is  already  said 
that  the  38th  Regiment  is  going  to  be  awarded 
one  of  the  highest  war  decorations  of  France  for 
their  brilliant  services  in  this  engagement. 

With  the  Germans  close  at  hand  and  I  being  no 

combatant  and  carrying  no  arms  Lieut.  , 

said  to  me,  ''Mr.  Ridout,  you  have  no  means  of  de- 
fending yourself,  so  I  think  you  had  better  go 
down  to  Battalion  headqarters." 

I  at  once  proceeded  to  the  Chateau  where  head- 
quarters were,  and  in  getting  there  it  was  almost 
a  race  for  life  through  the  roads  and  fields  with 
shells  whistling  through  the  air  and  breaking  all 
around.  Every  now  and  then  as  I  would  hear  a 
shell  coming  I  would  prostrate  myself  flat  upon 
the  ground.  At  length  I  reached  the  stone  v^all  of 
the  Chateau,  climbed  over  hastily  and  was  soon 
under  its  shelter,  but  I  was  not  there  long  before 
a  sight  met  my  eyes  which  was  reassuring  to  our 
American  side  of  the  situation.  There  passed 
along  a  big  procession  of  German  prisoners.  All 
of  them  had  cast  aw^ay  their  arms,  some  their 
helmets,  and  some  were  wounded.  Many  were 
very  young  boys  and  they  were  glad,  most  of  them 
said,  to  be  captured,  as  they  were  tired  of  war, 
and  knew  now  they  w^ould  not  have  to  be  killed. 

The  next  thing  that  confronted  me  were  the 
wounded  being  brought  in  to  the  first  aid  station 


70 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


at  the  old  Chateau  in  charge  of  the  doctors  and 
medical  corps.  Here  was  plenty  of  work  for  all, 
and  that  day  and  the  next  were  days  of  unceasing 
activity  among  the  wounded  and  suffering.  I  as- 
sisted in  dressing  wounded  Americans,  French 
and  Germans,  and  after  their  wounds  ^vere  drass- 
ed  we  took  them  to  big  cellars  underneath  the 
Chateau  and  provided  beds  and  mattresses  for  all. 

One  American,  I  remember,  had  a  shot  wound 
that  pierced  his  back  and  evidently  passed  through 
his  lungs.  I  gave  him  drink  and  tried  to  quiet  him 
as  he  cried  out,  "I  can't  breathe,  I  can't  breathe." 
I  put  my  arm  beneath  his  head  and  tried  to  soothe 
him,  and  when  I  was  called  to  attend  to  another 
wounded  he  would  cry,  ''Don't  leave  me,  don't 
leave  me."  It  was  not  long  'before  he  slept  the 
sleep  of  death,  sealing  with  his  blood  his  conse- 
cration to  liberty's  cause. 

As  for  the  German  wounded  I  felt  a  great  pity 
for  some  of  them.  They  were  mere  boys,  and 
were  in  the  war  as  the  victims  of  a  horrible  ma- 
chine. They  were  glad,  though  wounded,  to  be  in 
American  hands.  They  told  us  they  were  sur- 
prised at  our  treatment  of  them — they  had  been 
told  that  the  Americans  would  kill  them  if  they 
made  them  prisoners,  but  how  different  they 
found  things.  I  sav^  our  American  boys  share 
their  rations  with  those  German  prisoners.  They 
opened  their  "bully  beef"  and  passed  it  around 
among  the  German  boys.  They  shared  out  their 
coffee,  and  when  ni^t  came  on  and  several  of  the 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


71 


wounded  were  suffering  considerably,  we  searched 
till  we  found  bedding  and  made  them  as  comfor- 
table as  we  could. 

The  next  day  we  saw  them  off  in  the  ambulances 
taking  them  to  a  rear  hospital.  It  is  really  re- 
markable the  dispatch  with  which  the  wounded 
upon  the  battlefield  are  handled.  Within  a  very 
few  hours  they  are  taken  away  back  to  the  hospi- 
tals, and  perhaps  the  same  day  or  the  next  are  on 
the  train  for  some  great  base  hospital,  where  ev- 
erything is  at  hand  from  the  most  eminently 
skilled  surgeon  to  the  merest  little  detail. 

Speaking  of  hospitals  what  a  horrible  commen- 
tary upon  the  unspeakable  cruelty  of  the  Germans 
is  this  constant  habit  of  theirs  to  bomb  the  hospi- 
tals. Just  close  to  where  I  now  write — near  the 
Marne  River — sl  field  hospital  was  bombed  two 
nights  ago,  and  five  fellows  were  killed,  and  at  a 
larger  hospital  farther  back,  where  I  went  one 
day  with  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  truck  with  a  load  of 
wounded,  they  told  me  that  for  many  successive 
nights  the  Hun  bombarding  aeroplanes  had  been 
at  w^ork  there,  as  well  as  shelling  from  a  long- 
range  gun.  Of  course  the  daily  press  has  been 
giving  the  details  of  this  latest  battle.  It  was 
unquestionably  one  of  the  most  distinct  victories 
of  the  war.  I  have  suggested  that  this  may  be 
known  as  the  Battle  of  Chateau  Thierry,  but  to 
the  Crown  Prince,  with  his  contemptuous  notions 
of  the  American  soldier,  it  may  be  best  known  as 
the  Battle  of  Shattered  Theory,  because  it  was 


72 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


here  that  the  Crown  Prince  and  his  big  Generals 
got  all  their  theories  knocked  into  a  thousand 
pieces,  and  to  save  themselves  they  have  had  to 
put  up  one  of  the  heaviest  pieces  of  the  retreating 
business  in  the  history  of  the  war. 

I  visited,  some  months  ago,  the  spot  where  in 
1914,  at  the  first  Battle  of  the  Marne,  General 
Foch,  in  a  superb  piece  of  strategy,  broke  the 
backbone  of  the  German  invasion  of  that  time. 
Again,  the  Mame  has  led  to  Germany's  undoing, 
and  given  her  a  humiliating  defeat.  General 
Joffre  at  Verdun  uttered  those  notable  words, 
*'Ils  ne  passeront  pas.*'  (They  shall  not  pass). 
Again  we  seem  to  hear  those  words  voiced  by  the 
Marne,  "They  shall  not  pass."  We  hear  it  as  it  is 
echoed  and  re-echoed  by  over  a  million  American 
soldiers  in  France,  "They  shall  not  pass."  We 
hear  it  as  the  Allies  take  it  up  and  utter  it  in 
many  languages,  "They  shall  not  pass,"  and  we 
seem  to  hear  it  coming  forth  from  the  bleeding 
heart  of  an  oppressed  and  sorrowing  and  crushed 
Europe,  "They  shall  not  pass."  And  yet  again, 
all  that  is  good  and  pure,  righteous  and  just  in 
nations,  in  civilization,  and  in  religion,  cries  out 
in  thunderous  tones,  "They  shall  not  pass." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  THE  MARNE. 

In  the  previous  chapter  I  have  described  some 
thrilling  experiences  I  had  at  the  battle  of  the 
Marne,  July  15th.  At  one  time  during  that  battle 
il  was  at  Bfattalion  P.  C,  that  was  almost  sur- 
rounded by  the  enemy  and  as  we  sat  in  the  big 
cave  underneath  the  great  Chateau  we  could  feel 
the  building  tremble  under  the  concussion  of  the 
big  German  guns  that  were  pouring  the  iron  on 
us  at  a  ferocious  rate,  we  could  also  hear  the  rat- 
tle of  machine  guns  and  the  crack  of  the  rifles 
as  foe  met  foe,  and  at  one  juncture  of  the  event 
I  looked  quite  seriously  at  the  question  of  how  I 
would  like  to  be  a  German  prisoner  and  take  a 
trip  into  Germany  at  the  Kaiser's  expense. 

We  Y.  M.  C.  A.  men,  chaplains,  Red  Cross 
workers,  etc.,  are  not  permitted  to  use  arms,  we 
have  no  means  of  protecting  ourselves,  and  if  the 
enemy  got  too  close  to  us  and  there  was  no  escape, 
the  only  thing  we  could  do  would  be  to  surrender, 
and  then — well  it  would  depend  a  good  deal  on 
the  temper  of  our  captors  wikether  we  lived  or 
died.  At  any  rate  I  have  found  it  a  great  com- 
fort to  be  at  peace  with  God  and  be  ready  for 
death  or  life  in  the  war  zone. 

One  thing  I  did.  I  had  some  notes  and  papers 
on  me  that  I  did  not  want  to  fall  into  the  enemy's 

73 


74 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


'hands  if  anything  happened  to  me,  so  I  did  them 
up  in  a  small  package  and  tied  them  to  the  but- 
ton-hole of  a  wounded  American  soldier  who  was 
going  into  the  hospital  on  the  Ambulance,  with 
the  instructions  that  they  be  handed  to  some  Y. 
M.  C.  A.  worker. 

I  also  wrote  a  brief  letter  to  my  wife,  that  if 
she  did  not  hear  from  me  for  a  month  or  more  to 
not  be  concerned,  as  it  mig^ht  be  that  I  s^hall  be 
taking  a  trip  to  Germany.  This  letter  I  sent  out 
also  by  a  wounded  soldier  wiho  was  going  to  the 
hospital.  About  3  p.  m.  word  came  up  to  our 
Major  that  the  enemy  was  coming  up  the  road. 
The  Major  sent  word  teck  that  he  intended  to 
hold  the  lines.  However  the  enemy  Was  held  hack 
by  the  brave  38th  against  tremendous  odds.  Soon 
a  great  counter  attack  by  the  French  was  brought 
on,  and  the  tide  turned  against  the  Germans, 
("The  Stars  fought  against  Sisera!'*)  they  were 
driven  out,  they  retreated,  they  ran;  they  were 
routed,  and  the  greatest  victory  was  achieved  for 
the  Allies  since  1914.  I  soon  found  myself  on 
the  victory  side,  got  back  my  papers  and  instead 
of  being  a  German  captor  myself,  I  had  consid- 
erable work  to  do  with  German  prisoners,  helping 
the  wounded,  etc. 

I  remember  how  forcibly  that  Scripture  came 
into  my  mind  during  those  days  that  I  ministered 
to  them:  *'If  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him;  if 
he  thirst,  give  him  drink;  for  in  so  doing  'thou 
shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head.*'   I  can  re^call 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


75 


one  nice  looking  young  fellow  about  nineteen,  his 
leg  was  injured  severely  and  he  was  suffering 
greatly,  he  was  very  quiet  but  his  face  revealed 
his  pain.  When  night  came  I  hunted  around  till 
I  got  some  bedding  for  the  poor  boy  so  that  he 
could  get  some  sleep. 

On  the  morrow  the  ambulances  managed  to 
get  through  the  shell  fire  and  we  sent  all  our 
wounded — American,  French,  and  German  to  the 
hospitals  in  the  rear,  and  let  it  be  remembered, 
the  German  prisoners  who  are  wounded,  get  just 
as  good  attention  as  any  others. 

During  the  battle  I  refer  to  we  lost  a  lot  of 
personal  property.  The  German  shells  tore  up  my 
canteen,  and  I  lost  some  most  precious  things, 
among  them  my  handy  Bible  which  had  full  line 
of  helps,  index,  etc.  It  was  a  library  in  itself  and 
so  compact  that  I  could  carry  it  conveniently  in 
my  pocket.  It  had  notes,  etc.,  in  it  and  I  had 
preached  much  from  it  in  France.  It  was  like 
losing  a  dear  friend.  I  had  another  Bible  in  my 
travelling  bag  in  the  rear,  and  lo !  and  behold  thalfc 
ibag  was  lost  also,  containing  not  only  my  Bible, 
but  a  lot  of  valuable  papers  and  other  things  in- 
cluding my  dress  suit — and  so  it  goes  when  you 
get  in  the  war  zone. 

But,  in  a  bunch  of  mail  there  came  to  me  a  Bi- 
ble— sent  by  someone  whom  I  do  n<^t  know,  and  I 
am  real  glad  to  have  a  whole  Bible  again — ^for 
several  weeks  I  had  been  obliged  to  content  my- 
self with  a  pocket  Testament. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE. 

The  Battle  of  the  Marne,  or  Chateau  Thierry, 
of  July  15,  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  decisive 
battles  of  the  war.  The  38th  Regiment,  during 
that  engagement,  held  one  of  the  gateways  to 
Paris.  If  they  had  not  held  the  lines  the  enemy 
would  have  got  to  Paris  probably  by  Wednesday 
night,  July  17,  as  the  Kaiser  had  prophesied.  The 
defeat  they  suffered  at  the  Marne  turned  the  tide 
which  ultimately  turned  the  whole  current  of  the 
war,  resulting  in  defeat  and  retreat  all  along  the 
line,  for  the  enemy  and  eventuating  at  Sedan, 
November  11th,  with  the  signing  of  the  Armis- 
tice. 

Work  in  connection  with  this  July  15th  battle, 
together  with  the  nerve-racking  experiences  I  had 
gone  through  when  on  the  eighth  day  going  back 
in  the  lines  where  the  shelling  that  afternoon  was 
very  heavy  I  got  on  a  piece  of  road  all  alone  when 
three  shells — one,  two,  three,  came  right  up  the 
road,  seemingly  after  me,  it  was  the  last  kick.  I 
felt  my  strength  leaving  me — ^tumbled  into  a 
cellar  and  there  waited  till  the  shelling  subsided. 

I  just  had  to  give  up  and  go  out  to  the  field  hos- 
pital where  three  days  lying  in  a  comfortable  cot, 
getting  good  nourishing  food  and  good  sleep  T  felt 
myself  again.   The  Surgeon  warned  me  as  I  was 

76 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


77 


leaving  that  I  had  no  business  on  the  front  lines 
because  of  my  age.  "Let  the  younger  men  go 
there,"  said  he,  ''and  you  work  in  the  rear."  I  did 
not  take  his  advice  hoAvever.  In  a  few  days  I  was 
back  again  in  the  lines  and  had  many  things  yet 
to  suffer  and  endure. 

OTHEPw  DRIVES. 

After  returning  from  the  hospital  I  caught  up 
again  with  my  regiment  at  Crezancy.  In  a  couple 
of  days  we  were  on  the  move  again — where,  we 
could  not  tell,  but  presumed  on  again  toward  the 
front.  We  moved  out  of  Crezancy  about  3  a.  m. 
in  the  morning — ^this  time  in  French  trucks.  I 
well  remember  how  beautiful  in  the  early  morn 
it  was  to  cross  the  Marne  upon  newly  built 
bridges.  We  went  on  and  on  till  we  finally  landed 
in  a  woods  near  where  that  big  gun  called  the 
Bertha,  which'  fired  on  Paris  had  been  in  posi- 
tion. The  Germans,  before  lea\ing,  tried  to  blow 
up  the  emplacements  but  failed  because  of  their 
ponderous  weight  of  iron.  The  woods  bore  many 
a  mark  of  battle,  here  and  there  were  French  sol- 
diers lying  unburied — one  poor  fellow  presented  a 
never-to-be-forgotten  expression.  He  was  in  a 
kneeling  posture  when  the  ball  struck  him  in  the 
head,  he  dropped  upon  his  hands  and  there  he  was 
on  hands  and  knees  cold  in  death ;  his  face  was  a 
striking  one  denoting,  I  thought,  intellectuality 
and  spirituality.  Who  knows  but  what  he  was 
one  of  France's  favorite  sons,  now  to  be  buried 
as  common  clay. 


78 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


We  had  orders  to  move  again  that  afternoon 
and  we  entered  upon  one  of  the  most  horrible 
hikes  I  think  I  ever  experienced.  When  we  start- 
ed the  sun  was  shining  and  the  country  looked 
pretty.  It  seemed  glorious  to  be  travelling  over 
such  siplendid  territory  so  long  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  now  set  free.  We  hiked  on  till  evening, 
and  then  rain  came  on,  and  with  the  rain  of  course 
we  had  mud — slippery,  sticky  mud.  Still  we  hiked 
on.  As  we  neared  the  front  lines  the  enemy  seem- 
ed to  have  got  wind  of  our  coming  and  began  to 
shell  us  heavily,  but  thanks  to  a  merciful  Provi- 
dence, the  shells  did  not  fall  on  the  road  but  in  the 
fields.  As  we  got  still  nearer,  shells  came  thick 
and  fast  and  also  some  one-pounders.  If  these 
had  fallen  on  the  road  where  our  Brigade  was  the 
casualties  would  have  been  awful  that  night.  The 
rain  continued  to  fall  until  many  got  drenched  to 
the  skin.  I  took  a  chill  once  during  a  hold-up  that 
caused  me  to  shake  all  over  and  it  was  some  min- 
utes before  I  got  over  it.  It  was  a  densely  dark 
night  making  it  difficult  to  keep  formations  when 
on  the  hike.  At  last  the  head  of  our  Brigade 
reached  the  river  to  be  crossed  when  alas !  the 
bridge  was  blown  up.  What  were  we  to  do !  We 
down  in  the  center  could  not  imagine  what  was 
holding  us  so  long.  At  last  I  saw  a  bunch  of  men 
coming  back.  I  called  out,  ''What  outfit  are  you?" 
They  recognized  my  voice  and  said,  **Co.  M.,  we 
are  ordered  to  the  rear  and  you  had  better  come 
along  with  us."  I  did  not  hesitate  what  to  do,  but 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


79 


joined  them  instantly.  We  started  back,  we  knew 
not  where.  Finally,  Lieutenant  White  came  along 
and  took  charge  of  us.  We  went  on  back  perhaps 
two  miles  till  we  struck  a  woods.  Tired,  wet, 
worn,  exhausted,  I  find  my  brain  giving  way  to 
strange  illusions.  As  I  looked  at  the  trees  I 
thought  the  spaces  between  were  the  broken  down 
walls  of  houses.  I  thought  there  were  numerous 
cellars  there,  and  never  did  an  old  cellar  seem  so 
good  to  my  imagination  as  it  did  that  night,  but 
alas  'it  was  all  an  illusion.  I  was  in  a  woods^ — 
nothing  there  but  trees  and  bushes,  and  every- 
thing soaking  wet.  It  was  now  about  2  a.  m.,  Sun- 
day morning,  August  4th.  I  was  so  completely 
exhausted  that  I  could  have  thrown  myself  down 
on  the  wet  ground  and  gone  to  sleep  but  fortu- 
nately some  of  the  boys  had  shelter  tent.  We 
rigged  up  a  pup  tent  and  I  crept  in  with  a  couple 
of  doughboys  and  slept  soundly. 

When  morning  broke  it  was  raining  a  little  but 
soon  stopped.  We  were  all  wet  but  fortunately  I 
had  some  dry  socks  in  my  pack.  This  helped  my 
feet  out.  I  got  out  first  and  then  longed  for  a  cup 
of  coffee.  I  had  some  coffee  and  bacon  and  hard 
tack  in  my  pack  but  the  question  was  how  to  get  a 
fire.  It  looked  hopeless,  but  I  persevered  and  got 
together  some  pieces  of  wood — an  old  German  bas- 
ket, (the  Germans  had  been  in  these  woods  about 
forty-eight  hours  ago)  and  after  many  difficulties 
I  got  a  fire  started,  got  some  water  and  soon  had 
my  cup  of  coffee,  fried  bacon  and  hard  tack.  I  sel- 


80 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


dom  had  a  breakfast  that  tasted  so  good.  I  en- 
couraged the  other  fellows  to  start  their  break- 
fast, and  soon  we  had  everyibody  busy  cooking 
their  bacon  and  boiling  their  coffee.  It  was  well 
on  to  noon  ibef ore  ''breakfast''  was  over. 

It  was  Sunday,  and  now  that  the  sun  was  out 
and  the  boys  were  feeling  better  I  started  in  to 
remind  the  boys  that  it  was  Sunday  by  reading  a 
dhapter  from  my  Bible  and  having  family  prayers, 
but  this  was  a  case  where  it  was  in  order,  and  the 
most  common  sense  thing  to  do  was  to  put  the  nat- 
ural first  and  then  the  spiritual.  During  the  after- 
noon a  friendly  kitchen  hove  in  sight  and  the  boys 
got  some  supper.  The  call  to  move  came  and  we 
marched  on  toward  Fismes — that  dreadful  spot 
where  so  much  American  blood  was  spilled. 

It  was  when  in  the  Fismes  region  that  I  came 
nearest  losing  my  life,  and  this  led  to  my  penning 
the  following  article : 

SERVING  GOD  AMID  SHOT  AND  SHRAPNEL. 

The  other  day  I  was  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
firing  line  at  a  first  aid  station.  The  station  was 
in  a  house  very  much  battered  by  shell  fire.  I  had 
reached  the  place  after  a  walk  from  an  adjoining 
encampment  about  two  kilometres  away.  Dur- 
ing my  hike  a  lot  of  shells  came  shrieking  through 
the  air  and  hit  away  up  on  a  high  hill  where  artil- 
lery Avas  placed.  Some  of  those  shells  were  gas 
shells,  the  wind  carried  the  fumes  down  the  val- 
ley and  across  the  road  and  I  walked  right  into  it 
but  fortunately  the  fumes  were  not  of  the  ex- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  81 


tremely  dangerous  kind.  I  very  soon  got  my  gas 
mask  on,  and  sat  down  on  the  side  of  the  road 
with  some  soldiers  who  were  waiting  till  the  firing 
was  through. 

Arriving  at  the  first  aid  station  I  found  things 
had  been  very  busy  there  as  the  action  up  the 
road  had  been  quite  lively,  and  many  of  our  Amer- 
ican men  had  been  wounded  by  machine-gun  fire, 
also  by  shrapnel.  The  doctor  had  his  hands  full 
all  night  and  all  day,  but  now  the  casualties  were 
diminishing,  and  during  our  first  night  there  we 
slept  on  a  stretcher  and  had  a  fair  night's  sleep, 
but  the  morning  brought  some  very  painful  and 
distressing  experiences. 

Some  wounded  men  had  been  brought  in  and  we 
had  an  ambulance  ready  to  depart  for  the  hospital 
when  a  shell  came  within  six  or  eight  feet  in 
front  of  us,  and  the  flying  shrapnel  damaged  the 
ambulance  so  much  that  w^e  had  to  remove  the 
wounded  and  bring  them  back  into  the  aid  station. 

No  sooner  had  we  done  this  than  another  shell 
struck  right  in  front  of  the  station  and  flung  its 
iron,  fragments  right  into  the  midst  of  us  all.  For 
a  few^  moments  all  was  roar  and  confusion,  and 
the  cries  and  screams  of  the  wounded  men  filled 
the  air. 

When  things  quieted  down,  and  no  other  shells 
fell,  we  proceeded  to  pick  ourselves  up  and  attend 
to  the  suffering  ones.  That  awful  shell  had  killed 
two  outright,  and  had  wounded  four.  It  threw 
the  doctor  to  the  ground,  and  a  supply  lieutenant 


82 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


likewise,  but  through  the  good  mercy  of  God  I 
was  spared  any  serious  injury,  though  I  had  a 
slight  hit  on  the  back  and  one  on  the  right  cheek. 

The  fellow  that  was  badly  wounded  in  the  leg 
cried  piteously.  I  gave  him  a  drink,  comforted 
him,  and  told  him  of  God  who  comforts  us  in  our 
sufferings.  Another  poor  fellow  had  a  most  griev- 
ous wound.  I  held  him  While  the  doctor  worked 
with  him,  but  death  got  ahead  of  the  doctor,  and  I 
had  hardly  laid  his  head  down  before  he  was  gone. 

I  noticed  that  he  had  his  breast-pocket  filled 
with  letters  and  a  book  and  a  piece  of  shrapnel 
had  hit  thalt  pocket,  had  torn  into  the  letters,  thus 
saving  his  breast  from  a  bad  wound.  I  have  fre- 
quently advised  our  men  to  wear  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  the  pocket  on  the  heart  side,  and  many  a 
time  this  precious  little  book  has  saved  a  life  as 
well  as  a  soul. 

One  of  those  whose  life  was  so  suddenly  taken 
away  by  that  fatal  shell  was  an  ambulance  man, 
the  son  of  wealthy  parents  of  Patterson,  N.  J. 
Those  ambulance  drivers  are  brave  fellows.  They 
run  great  risks  in  going  almost  up  to  the  firing- 
line  and  bringing  the  wounded  out.  In  some  cases 
those  drivers  are  young  women.  They  drive  their 
cars  through  roads  that  are  riddled  with  shell- 
holes,  and  many  a  car  bears  the  mark  of  shrapnel 
hits. 

The  Germans  seem  to  make  special  marks  of 
hospitals,  aid  stations  and  ambulances.  They 
^hell  and  bomb  these  places  at  every  opportunity. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


83 


It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  our  German  enemy 
should  do  such  an  inhuman  thing  as  this,  but  I 
know  from  personal  observation  that  such  is  true. 

During  the  week  of  the  battle,  July  15,  I  had 
occasion  to  go  down  with  a  load  of  wounded  to  a 
big  hospital  at  Golummiers.  This  is  a  large  town. 
For  many  days  it  had  been  bombed  from  the  air, 
and  at  night  a  long-range  gun  was  being  fired  in- 
to it.  It  must  be  confessed  that  it  is  anything  but 

comfortable  experience  to  hospital  patients  to 
think  that  at  any  moment  a  bomb  might  come 
their  way.  One  of  those  bombs,  however,  worked 
fearful  vengeance  on  the  Germans  themselves. 
They  bombed  a  prison  hospital  and  killed  79  Ger- 
man prisoners. 

We  were  at  rest  for  a  few  days  at  Crezancy, 
when  the  Brigade  was  ordered  on  to  the  Saint 
Mihiel  Drive.  It  was  one  dreadful  night  when  we 
started.  The  rain  poured.  Fortunately  I  found  a 
place  in  the  Regimental  Ambulance.  We  were  on 
the  road  all  night  and  witnessed  the  opening  of 
this  battle.  The  following  is  a  good  description 
of  this  offensive : 

At  1  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September  12, 
the  artillery  preparation  began  with  one  terrific 
burst  of  flame  from  many  hundreds  of  guns, 
French  as  well  as  American,  ranging  in  size  from 
the  75's  to  the  great  seacoast  guns,  some  as  large 
as  400mm.  in  caliber,  which,  firing  from  railway 
mounts,  carried  harrassing  fire  to  rail  and  road 
junctions  as  far  behind  the  German  lines  as  St. 


84 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


Benoit,  Mars-la-Tour,  Gorze,  Conflans  and  even 
Metz. 

The  stupendous  bombardment  shook  the  earth 
for  hours,  driving  the  enemy's  troops  into  their 
dugouts,  tearing  up  their  trenches  and  demoral- 
izing their  communications  of  every  description. 
Meantime,  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Infantry- 
men, the  hundreds  of  machine  guns,  the  scores  of 
American  and  French  tanks,  and  the  greatest  as- 
semblage of  American,  British  and  French  avia- 
tion ever  employed  for  a  single  operation  on  the 
Western  front  all  waited,  tense  and  eager,  for 
the  word  to  sweep  forward  over  the  shell-torn 
fields  and  roads  and  trenches  which  a  heavy  rain 
that  had  begun  in  the  evening  was  rapidly  turn- 
ing to  quagmire. 

ROLLING  BARRAGE  STARTS. 

At  5  o'clock,  which  was  still  20  minutes  before 
daybreak  of  that  wet  and  foggy  morning,  the 
bombardment  of  the  German  front  lines  in  the 
sectors  of  the  First  and  Fourth  Corps  suddenly 
changed  to  a  rolling  barrage,  and  behind  it  the  In- 
fantry jumped  off,  preceded  by  detachments  with 
wire  cutters  and  bangalore  torpedoes  to  destroy 
the  numerous  successive  belts  of  German  entan- 
glements. 

Immediately  occurred  the  first  agreeable  sur- 
prise. The  enemy's  wire  was  in  very  poor  condi- 
tion, rusty  or  broken.  Little  diflaculty  was  expe- 
rienced in  passing  it,  some  of  the  troops  even  be- 
ing able  to  go  over  or  through  it  without  cutting. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


85 


It  is  well  known  that  the  Saint  Mihiel  was  one  of 
the  most  singularly  successful  campaigns  of  the 
Americans.  Great  gains  were  made  at  but  little 
cost  in  casualties.  I  remember  when  we  were 
about  to  move  into  action,  we  had  only  about 
started  when  \vord  came  from  the  front  that  the 
enemy  had  capitulated  and  that  we  had  taken 
13,000  prisoners.  It  was  a  time  of  great  joy  and 
exhilaration  for  the  Americans.  It  was  also  the 
beginning  of  the  end  for  the  Germans. 

After  this  came  the  Argonne.  This  proved  to 
be  one  of  the  bloodiest  battle  grounds  to  the  Amer- 
icans because  of  the  woods  which  abounded  here 
and  which  the  Germans  were  so  well  acquainted 
with  and  had  invested  so  fully  with  machine 
guns.  While  my  regiment  was  in  action  I  stayed 
at  First  Aid  Station  at  a  point  near  Montfaucon, 
and  just  a  couple  of  miles  from  Cierges.  Here  I 
had  a  series  of  unusual  experiences.  First  was 
our  baptism  of  fire  the  morning  we  arrived,  first 
from  avions  and  next  from  artillery.  We  had  no 
sooner  got  our  positions  than  a  swoop  of  aero- 
planes appeared  in  the  distance.  Our  first  thought 
was  that  they  were  our  machines,  but  not  so,  they 
proved  to  be  Germans.  They  came  over  us,  turned 
their  machine  guns  on  us  and  threw  out  hand 
grenades.  Our  boys  fired  their  rifles  and  also 
turned  some  machine  guns  on  them  and  brought 
down  one.  Som.e  of  our  men  were  wounded  dur- 
ing the  attack,  but  the  worst  was  to  come.  The 
avions  gave  away  our  position  to  the  enemy  and 


86         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


it  was  not  long  before  the  Germans  poured  on  us 
many  murderous  shells.  It  was  awful  to  witness 
shell  after  shell  tearing  right  into  the  field  where 
several  companies  were  located.  Fortunately  our 
men  had  ''dug  in"  and  this  saved  many  lives,  but 
over  one  hundred  were  put  out  of  commission  by 
death,  wounds  and  shell  shock. 

After  the  shelling  was  over,  the  wounded  and 
shell-shocked  were  brought  over  to  our  dressing 
station,  we  had  our  hands  full  for  sometime.  I 
saw  at  this  time  many  cases  of  genuine  shell- 
shock.  They  shook  all  over ;  they  reeled  and  stag- 
gered like  drunken  men ;  they  startle  and  shook  at 
the  least  sound,  they  cried,  they  stuttered  and 
stammered.  It  was  really  pitiful  to  have  to  send 
most  of  them  on  foot  to  the  ambulance  station  at 
Montfaucon  about  two  miles  away.  We  could  not 
do  anything  else  with  them.  Reaching  there  they 
were  taken  care  of  by  the  ambulance  company 
which  sent  them  into  the  field  hospital. 

When  in  the  hospital  myself  after  the  Battle  of 
the  Marne,  a  lad  was  brought  in  suffering  from 
shell-shock.  In  the  morning  he  was  walking 
around  with  no  wounds  or  any  signs  of  illness 
about  him.  I  spoke  to  him.  He  stared  at  me  and 
asked  me:  *'When  were  you  taken  prisoner?"  I 
said  I  wasn't  taken  prisoner.  He  looked  at  me  in 
amazement.  He  was  under  the  delusion  that  he 
was  a  prisoner  in  German  hands.  When  the  sur- 
geon came  round  the  boy  tumbled  into  his  bed 
and  cried,  ''Don't  kill  me;  don't  kill  me."  He 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  87 


buried  his  head  in  the  pillow  and  cried  out  again : 
''Don't  kill  me  till  I  write  to  my  mother."  Shell 
shock  did  it! 

IN  THE  ARGONNE. 

After  the  St.  Mihiel  was  through  with  we 
wound  our  way  along  until  eventually  we  landed 
in  the  xAa'gonne.  This  brought  us  over  the  Hin- 
denb^rg  trenches,  once  thought  so  untakable.  It 
also  gave  me  a  chance  to  see  the  awful  havoc 
wrought  by  the  Battle  of  Verdun  in  1916.  Pass- 
ing along  one  of  the  highways  which  the  engineers 
were  repairing,  I  talked  with  one  of  the  officers, 
who  pointing  to  a  certain  hill  said,  "There  is 
where  the  Germans  lost  500,000  men."  A  terri- 
ble country  was  this,  the  fields  were  ploughed  into 
shell  holes  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  We  land- 
ed at  evening  in  what  was  once  no  doubt  a  splen- 
did forest.  It  was  melancholy  to  see  the  ruins  of 
those  great  trees.  Nothing  but  their  ghosts  re- 
mained. Our  troops  could  hardly  find  room  be- 
tween the  shell  holes  to  erect  their  pup  tents. 

The  battle  was  on  and  our  regiment  moved  to 
the  front  lines.  We  established  our  dressing  sta- 
tion near  Montfaucon  in  several  dugouts  left  in 
good  shape  by  the  Germans.  I  served  with  Dr. 
Lutz,  of  Second  Battalion  some  of  the  time ;  also, 
with  the  Regimental  Medical  Corps.  These  were 
busy  days.  I  started  making  hot  chocolate  at  first 
for  the  wounded  and  the  stretcher-bearers  that 
bore  them  in  from  the  lines.  This  broadened  out 
to  a  kitchen.   I  would  rise  early  in  the  morning, 


88 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


make  chocolate  and  coffee,  and  when  I  could  get 
bread,  bacon,  rice,  etc.,  I  would  serve  it  out  to  the 
hungry  and  wounded,  the  sick,  the  cold  and  the 
stragglers  who  came  along.  During  the  first  few 
days  the  roads  were  so  congested  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  get  ambulances  through,  and  for  one 
day  and  night  we  had  the  ground  literally  spat- 
tered all  over  with  the  wounded.  Among  them 
were  some  German  wounded,  some  of  them  young 
boys.  One  of  them  made  me  think  so  much  of  my 
own  boy  George  B.,  that  I  did  a  whole  lot  for  that 
German  boy  to  make  him  comfortable.  It  was 
quite  an  undertaking  to  keep  them  warm  through 
that  cold  night,  and  I  hunted  around  till  I  found 
blankets,  old  clothing,  some  of  it  bloody  it's  true, 
and  wrapped  our  boys  up  as  well  as  the  wounded 
of  the  enemy.  During  the  night  some  of  them 
died.  Among  them  a  German  Sergeant  and  a 
German  medical  man,  and  one  of  our  American 
boys. 

It  was  in  the  Argonne  that  we  had  our  heaviest 
casualties.  Many  of  our  companies  went  in  in 
full  strength  and  came  out,  some  80,  some  70, 
some  60.  All  our  Majors  went  to  the  hospital, 
nearly  all  our  Captains  also,  and  many  lieutenants, 
and  of  the  boys  who  came  but  most  of  them  were 
sick  due  to  getting  gassed,  and  also  due  to  having 
to  eat  so  much  canned  stuff. 

The  German  power  was  crumbling  every  day 
now  and  we  felt  sure  of  victory  in  the  not  dis- 
tant future  for  the  Allies.    It  looked  to  us  as 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


89 


though  the  war  might  be  over  this  fall  and  yet  it 
might  go  on  till  spring. 

After  Vve  had  come  out  of  action  and  were  going 
to  the  rear  I  decided  to  go  out  to  Chaumont  and 
adjust  my  papers,  take  examination,  etc.,  for  the 
regular  Chaplaincy.  There  was  quite  a  demand 
for  Chaplains,  so  I  made  my  application  which 
was  endorsed  by  the  Colonel  of  the  Regiment,  the 
Major  of  the  Battalion,  and  the  Surgeon.  I  passed 
the  examinations  successfully  and  was  practically 
accepted,  but  the  commission  had  to  come  by  wire 
from  Washington,  and  while  waiting  this  the  Ar- 
mistice was  signed,  which  arrested  all  commis- 
sions for  the  time  being. 

Being  now  away  from  my  regular  troops  I  be- 
came temporarily  attached  to  Chaumont  Divis- 
ion and  did  lecture  and  preaching  work  among  va- 
rious units,  but  spent  about  six  weeks  with  the 
77th  Division  traversing  their  entire  area,  lec- 
turing during  the  week  and  preaching  three  times 
on  Sundays. 

It  was  in  the  Argonne  that  I  met  with  the 
Christian  soldier  boy  who  impressed  me  so  much 
that  it  led  to  my  writing  the  sketches,  *'The  Story 
of  Fletcher  Benson,'*  which  appears  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


FLETCHER  BENSON. 

Fletcher  Benson  was  a  good  fellow,  well  built 
physically,  strong  in  mind,  had  a  tender  heart 
and  was  whole-souled.  He  knew  God  in  a  sound 
conversion  when  quite  a  lad,  and  afterwards  ex- 
perienced a  clean  heart  at  Zion  Hill  camp  grounds. 

When  war  broke  out  he  was  studying  for  the 
ministry  in  college,  but  when  the  call  for  soldiers 
came  he  did  not  shirk  his  duty  to  his  flag  and 
country,  but  went  and  enrolled  himself  under  the 
banner  of  Uncle  Sam.  He  fully  knew  what  it 
would  mean  to  get  in  the  army — going  away  from 
home  and  religious  surroundings,  and  getting  into 
an  atmosphere  where  there  would  be  great  temp- 
tations, many  hardships,  much  to  endure  on  all 
hands  and  of  all  sorts,  but  he  was  convinced  that 
there  w^as  grace  sufficient  for  every  need.  After 
awhile  training  in  a  home  camp  he  was  shipped 
to  France,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  found 
himiself  as  an  infantryman  in  active  service  on 
the  front  line. 

At  the  Battle  of  the  Marne  he  passed  through 
his  first  great  fiery  ordeal — ^the  night  of  that 
dreadful  bombardment  he  was  down  in  the 
trenches  and  when  just  past  midnight  the  Ger- 
mans began  to  pour  that  rain  of  shell  over  on  the 
American  forces  he  was  exposed  to  the  fire  with- 

90 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


91 


out  a  thing  to  shelter  him  but  the  walls  of  a  hasti- 
ly built  trench.  To  him  it  was  a  terrible  expe- 
rience, but  through  it  all  he  prayed  to  God  in  si- 
lent yet  fervent  prayer  that  he  might  pass  safely 
through  the  awful  night  and  see  the  morning 
break.  Many  that  night  about  him  were  wounded 
by  the  flying  shrapnel,  and  some  were  killed,  but 
when  morning  came  he  was  found  without  a 
scratch,  yet  his  sympathies  went  out  to  the  wound- 
ed in  adjoining  trenches  and  he  willingly  offered 
himself  as  stretcher-bearer  to  help  take  the 
wounded  down  the  hill  to  the  first  aid  station  in 
the  old  Chateau.  Many  a  comrade  did  he  aid  that 
day  in  getting  to  the  dressing  station,  and  he  did 
all  he  could  to  get  water  for  the  thirsty,  and  in 
every  way  help  the  helpless  and  the  suffering. 

When  the  counter  attack  at  the  Battle  of  the 
Marne  took  place  the  next  Tuesday  night,  his 
company  had  an  exposed  bit  of  the  line  to  hold, 
but  they  held  it  through  terrible  odds,  and  Fletch- 
er himself  knew  from  real  experience  what  it 
meant  to  engage  in  real  soldiering,  but  throug'h  it 
all  he  was  sustained  by  the  conviction,  in  some 
peculiar  way,  the  battle  was  the  Lord's  and  it  was 
his  duty  to  be  a  real  soldier — to  be  brave  and 
courageous  and  do  his  full  duty. 

I  met  Fletcher  about  three  weeks  after  the  Bat- 
tle of  the  Marne.  I  remember  the  meeting  up 
there  in  that  shack  where  he  was  put  up.  It  was 
Sunday  morning  when  I  happened  in  on  him.  He 
was  reading  his  Bible  and  he  had  a  little  army 


92 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


hymn  book  opened  before  him.  He  said  to  me, 
**Just  before  you  came  along  I  was  singing  one  of 
those  hymns  that  seemed  just  to  suit  my  experi- 
ence. If  you  don't  mind  I  will  sing  you  a  verse  of 
it."  And  he  began  to  sing : 

"0  Jesus,  I  have  promised 

To  serve  Thee  to  the  end ; 
Be  Thou  forever  near  me, 

My  Master  and  my  Friend ! 
I  shall  not  fear  the  battle 
If  Thou  art  by  my  side, 
Nor  wander  from  the  pathway 
If  Thou  wilt  be  my  Guide." 
After  singing  the  verse  he  said :  '*You  remem- 
ber the  Battle  of  the  Marne,  Sunday  night  of  July 
14th.   Well,  all  through  that  terrific  barrage  this 
hymn  was  singing  through  my  soul  and  especially 
those  words  : 

"I  shall  not  fear  the  battle. 
If  Thou  art  by  my  side." 
"I  felt  in  a  strange,  peculiar  way  that  there  was 
One  standing  at  my  side  and  when  the  shells  were 
bursting  all  about  me  I  felt  that  He  was  shielding 
me  from  the  shrapnel  and  comforting  me  so  that 
all  terror  left  me  and  I  was  not  afraid." 

I  said  to  him,  *''Sing  on,  let  me  hear  the  rest  of 
the  hymn."  And  he  sang: 

"0  let  me  feel  Thee  near  me ! 

The  world  is  ever  near ; 
I  see  the  sights  that  dazzle, 
The  tempting  sounds  I  hear; 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


93 


My  foes  are  ever  near  me, 

Around  me  and  within ; 
But,  Jesus,  draw  Thou  nearer, 

And  shield  my  soul  from  sin. 

let  me  hear  Thee  speaking 

In  accents  clear  and  still. 
Above  the  storms  of  passion. 

The  murmurs  of  self -^will ! 
0  speak  to  re-assure  me. 

To  hasten  or  control! 
0  speak,  and  make  me  listen. 

Thou  Guardian  of  my  soul !" 

I  must  confess  that  this  was  a  means  of  grace 
to  my  soul,  to  meet  such  a  young  fellow,  far,  far 
away  from  home,  the  product  of  one  of  our  most 
spiritual  colleges,  the  fruits  of  a  revival  meeting 
in  a  little  Methodist  Church  down  in  a  small  town, 
and  a  by-product  of  Zion  Hill  camp  meeting — ^to 
meet  him  here  in  France  and  in  the  war  zone,  and 
a  soldier  in  Uncle  Sam's  army,  and  to  find  that 
through  all  the  temptations  and  tests  that  had  be- 
set him  he  had  kept  unflinchingly  true  to  God.  It 
was  encouraging  and  inspiring  and  I  went  out 
from  his  shack  to  my  morning  service  to  preach 
more  vitally  the  saving  and  keeping  power  of  the 
mighty  Christ. 

My  next  meeting  with  Fletcher  Benson  was 
over  in  the  Saint  Mihiel  sector.  Our  division  was 
ordered  to  relieve  the  attacking  division.  We  got 
over  in  a  country  that  was  virtually  ploughed  up 


94 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


by  our  own  artillery  preparatory  to  the  attack  up- 
on the  German  strongholds.  I  had  witnessed  a 
great  deal  of  the  effects  of  German  artilleiy  but 
here  I  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  what  our 
guns  had  done  to  the  enemy  country.  Some  of 
our  large  shells  had  made  holes  big  enough  and 
deep  enough  to  suffice  for  the  cellar  of  an  ordi- 
nary sized  house ;  great  gaps  and  chasms  had  been 
made  in  the  earth  big  enough  to  bury  a  family  of 
elephants,  and  the  German  dugouts  were  played 
havoc  with — dugouts  which  had  endured  for  four 
years,  and  where  the  Huns  had  kept  fairly  com- 
fortable had  caved  in  under  the  American  fire  as 
though  they  were  paper  boxes.  We  had  to  put  up 
a  couple  of  nights  in  those  woods.  The  first  night 
the  Germans  threw  a  lot  of  shells  over  on  us — 
they  knew  where  we  were — and  some  of  their  fire 
struck  us  bad.  Two  of  our  boys  were  killed  dur- 
ing the  night,  several  were  wounded,  and  in  the 
morning  a  soldier  pointed  out  to  me  where  a  piece 
of  shrapnel  had  struck  the  trunk  of  a  tree  right 
next  to  the  pup  tent  where  I  slept,  and  he  said :  "It 
is  a  good  thing  for  you  that  that  trunk  got  that 
bit  of  iron ;  if  it  had  hit  your  tent,  good-bye." 

Well,  such  are  the  mercies  attendant  upon  us  in 
the  battlefields !  The  next  day,  knowing  we  would 
have  to  spend  another  night  in  that  woods  I  went 
looking  for  a  dugout,  and  in  my  search  I  was  de- 
lighted to  come  across  my  friend  Fletcher  Benson 
again.  It  was  a  happy  meeting.  We  went  to- 
gether in  search  of  a  dugout,  and  at  length  was  di- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


95 


rected  by  my  good  friend,  Major  Mac,  to  a  dugout 
close  to  his.  We  settled  on  it  for  the  night.  Now 
I  must  confess  that  those  Germon  dugouts  always 
felt  hideous  to  me,  there  was  something  uncanny 
about  them  though  they  were  invariably  built 
strong  and  substantial  and  comfortable.  This  one 
especially  gave  me  strange  feelings,  but  when 
night  came  on,  and  Benson  came,  we  got  in,  light- 
ed our  candles  and  sat  do^Mi  to  talk  things 
over. 

Since  our  first  meeting  Fletcher  told  me  he  had 
passed  through  some  strange  experiences.  One 
thing  he  was  glad  to  tell  me  was,  that  he  had  been 
promoted  from  Corporal  to  Sergeant,  and  that  his 
company  comm.ander  had  shown  him  many  favors. 
He  said  one  day  his  Captain  said  to  him,  "Benson, 
I  see  you  don't  smoke,  chew  or  swear."  ''No,  sir, 
I  don't  do  either.  At  home  1  was  taught  to  avoid 
tobacco;  at  college  it  was  prohibited,  and  as  to 
swearing,  I  don't  think  any  man  can  fear  God  and 
swear  at  the  same  time." 

"Well,  Benson,"  said  the  Captain,  "You  keep  on. 
I  myself  am  a  preacher's  son.  My  father  taught 
me  along  the  same  line.  I  got  away  from  his 
teachings  some  since  getting  in  the  army,  but  I 
hope  to  get  back  to  them  again  some  day." 

Benson  was  kno\Mi  by  some  of  the  men  as 
"Happy"  Benson.  He  was  never  seen  out  of  tem- 
per, nor  indulging  in  an\i:hing  coarse  or  doubtful. 
One  day  one  of  his  comrades  said,  "Well,  I  should 
like  to  know  what  keeps  Benson  so  happy  in  such 


96         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


miserable  surroundings  as  we  have  to  put  up 
with." 

*^If  you  would  like  to  know,"  replied  Benson, 
"I  will  tell  you.  This  is  what  makes  me  happy. 
I  try  to  keep  the  fear  of  the  Lord  ever  before  me. 
I  am  in  France  in  the  line  of  duty.  I  have  a  little 
book — my  New  Testament — -which  I  read  every 
day  and  I  say  my  prayers  regularly." 

"Oh,  there  you  go  again  Benson,  with  your  re- 
ligious business." 

**Well,"  spoke  up  another  comrade,  "I  think  it 
is  a  good  thing  that  in  this  man's  army  we  have  a 
few  fellows  like  Benson,  who  have  the  courage  to 
be  religious ;  he  helps  make  up  for  a  lot  of  us  who 
have  not  that  kind  of  stuff." 

Well,  as  we  sat  there  in  the  dugout,  Benson  was 
telling  me  these  little  incidents,  and  then  before 
we  laid  down  on  our  German-made  wire  cots,  I 
asked  Benson  to  read  something  from  his  little 
Testament,  and  he  read  Ephesians,  1st  chapter, 
and  after  he  had  finished  he  said:  ^'I  want  to 
read  from  another  little  book  which  I  have  carried 
with  me  all  through  the  war,"  and  he  pulled  out 
from  his  pocket,  *The  Practice  of  the  Presence  of 
God,"  by  Brother  Lawrence.  He  said,  "Let  me 
read  a  couple  of  citations  from  this  little  book 
which  has  been  a  blessing  to  me  often.  Listen." 

"There  is  not  in  the  world  a  kind  of  life  more 
sweet  and  more  delightful  than  that  of  a  continual 
walk  with  God ;  those  only  can  comprehend  it  who 
practice  and  experience  it." 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


97 


And  again :  *'To  be  with  God,  there  is  no  need 
to  be  continually  in  church.  Of  our  heart  we  may 
make  an  oratory  wherein  to  retire  from  time  to 
time  and  with  Him  hold  meek,  humble,  loving  con- 
verse. Everyone  can  converse  closely  with  God, 
some  more,  others  less.  He  knows  we  can.  Let 
us  begin  then,  perhaps  He  is  just  waiting  for  one 
generous  resolution  on  our  part ;  let  us  be  brave.'' 

In  that  old  German  dugout  we  knelt  in  prayer 
and  we  felt  that  God  was  as  close  to  us  there  as  on 
Zion  Hill  camp  ground,  or  in  the  most  sacred  spot 
at  home.  We  laid  down  to  sleep,  blew  out  our 
candles,  and  sang  as  our  good-night  lullaby,  Lytes 
famous  hymn : 

•'x^bide  with  me :  fast  falls  the  eventide ; 
The  darkness  deepens ;  Lord,  with  me  abide : 
When  other  helpers  fail,  and  comforts  flee, 
Help  of  the  helpless,  oh,  abide  with  me." 

After  we  had  spent  that  night  together  in  the 
German  dugout  in  the  Argonne,  we  had  to  make 
an  early  start  for  our  next  objective.  Breakfast 
was  eaten  when  it  was  barely  light,  and  at  six 
o'clock  we  were  on  the  move.  Fletcher  was  at- 
tached to  Company  G,  of  the  Second  Battalion, 
and  my  understanding  was  that  the  first  and  sec- 
ond battalions  were  to  move  immediately  in  on 
the  line  of  attack  w^hile  the  third  remained  in  re- 
serve. I  moved  on  with  the  Second  Battalion 
Medical  Corps,  and  we  put  up  our  first-aid  station 


98         THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


as  far  up  toward  the  front  as  we  could  go  with 
safety. 

It  was  not  long  before  our  wounded  began  to 
arrive,  and  one  day  we  had  to  work  continuously 
for  about  twenty-two  hours.  Some  of  our  boys 
were  terribly  wounded,  some  hopelessly,  but  the 
surgeon  gave  them  the  best  of  treatment  and 
hurried  them  on  to  the  hospital  as  fast  as  the 
ambulances  could  take  them,  but,  alas,  the  roads 
became  congested.  Everything  was  trying  to  get 
to  the  front  where  the  fighting  was  going  on — ar- 
tillery, ammunition,  rations,  engineers,  signal 
corps,  etc,  and  between  them  all  a  jam  occurred 
on  the  road,  and  for  aibout  ten  miles  for  almost  a 
whole  day  scarcely  a  wheel  moved.  Of  course, 
one  of  the  things  which  superinduced  this  condi- 
tion was  the  dastardly  trick  the  Germans  played 
on  us  by  mining  the  roads ;  and  at  one  point  where 
the  mine  went  off  one  of  the  biggest  of  our  army 
trucks  tumbled  over  and  it  took  the  engineers 
nearly  ten  hours  to  clear  things  up  and  build  a 
bridge  over  the  chasm  made  by  the  Hun  mine. 

About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second 
day  a  captain  was  brought  in  on  a  stretcher  se- 
verely wounded.  He  had  been  shot  in  both  legs, 
also  in  the  shoulder.  He  was  in  a  desperate  condi- 
tion, but  what  added  to  his  grief  was  the  fact  that 
four  men  had  been  killed  in  their  effort  to  bring 
him  in.  They  were  bearing  him  along  on  the 
stretcher,  when  the  German  snipers  picked  them 
off  one  by  one.    Four  other  fellows  volunteered 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


99 


to  take  the  Captain  out,  and  one  of  them  was 
Fletcher  Benson.  These  last  four  succeeded  in 
getting  their  Captain  out  of  danger  and  bringing 
him  safely  to  the  first-aid  station. 

Night  was  coming  on,  and  the  stretcher-^bearers 
concluded  they  would  wait  for  morning  before  re- 
turning to  the  lines,  and  this  gave  me  another 
chance  to  fellowship  with  Benson,  and  that  night 
by  our  fire  where  we  kept  our  chocolate  and 
coffee  hot  for  dispensing  to  the  wounded  and  to 
hungry  and  thirsty  soldiers  we  talked  of  many 
things. 

"Well,'*  I  said,  ''Benson,  what  do  you  think  of 
war  by  this  time?" 

"Oh,"  he  said,  "war  is  awful.  I  hope  this  will 
be  the  last  war  this  old  sin-cursed  world  will  ever 
see.  When  I  get  home  one  thing  I  shall  never  do. 
I  shall  never  glorify  war.  Now  think  of  what  I 
had  to  go  through  and  see  yesterday.  When  we 
got  on  the  lines  we  were  up  against  a  nest  of  Ger- 
man machine  guns — one  pounders  and  snipers.  I 
saw  one  of  our  Lieutenants  shot  in  the  head  and 
fall  dead  instantly.  Ten  of  my  own  platoon  went 
down  one  after  the  other,  and  our  company  got  so 
shot  to  pieces  that  I  believe  there  are  not  more 
than  sixty  or  seventy  left  out  of  250.  On  our  way 
out  with  the  Captain  the  Germans  were  shelling 
everything  in  sight.  One  shell  fell  about  fifty  feet 
away  from  us  and  killed  four  of  our  boys  and 
wounded  eight  others,  and  a  fellow  riding  a  horse 
was  shot  to  pieces  and  his  horse  torn  in  two.  I 


100       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


have  seen  enough  the  past  two  days  to  make  war 
appear  to  me  the  most  horrible  monster  the  devil 
ever  invented.  But  the  marvel  is  that  I  am  alive. 
Bullets  were  f\ymg  all  around  me  and  shells  hurst 
close  to  me  and  yet  through  it  all  God  has  merci- 
fully spared  my  life  and  I  am  alive  to  praise  Him. 
These  days  I  often  think  of  those  words  in  the  91st 
Psalm,  *'A  thousand  shall  fall  at  thy  side  and  ten 
thousand  at  thy  right  hand,  but  it  shall  not  come 
nigh  thee,''  and  then  I  think  of  that  hymn  we  used 
to  sing  at  Zion's  Hill  camp  meeting,  "God  will  take 
care  of  you." 

I  said,  "It  is  several  days  now  since  I  have  had 
a  sing,  and  I  pulled  out  my  little  song  hook  and 
together,  Benson  and  I  sang  the  first  verse. 

"Be  not  dismayed  whatever  betide, 
God  will  take  care  of  you ; 
Beneath  His  wings  of  love  abide, 
God  will  take  care  of  you." 

The  singing  attracted  many  who  were  standing 
around,  and  we  had  quite  a  congregation  as  we 
sang  the  second  verse. 

"Through  days  of  toil  v^hen  heart  doth  fail, 
God  will  take  care  of  you ; 
When  dangers  fierce  your  path  assail, 
God  will  take  care  of  you." 

Then  others  joined  us  in  the  chorus,  and  we 
sang  on  until  we  sang  the  hymn  through.  I  said, 
"When  we  have  been  having  some  close  calls  the 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  101 


past  few  days,  many  of  our  comrades  have  gone, 
not  to  come  back,  we  have  been  spared,  I  propose 
before  we  separate  to  go  to  our  dugouts,  that  we 
have  a  bit  of  prayer.  And  I  am  going  to  call  on 
Sergeant  Benson  to  lead  us  in  prayer."  All  heads 
were  bared  and  as  I  recall  it  now,  Benson  prayed 
something  like  the  following : 

"Heavenly  Father,  we  give  Thee  thanks  that 
our  lives  have  been  spared  during  the  awful  fight- 
ing of  those  two  days  past.  We  have  seen  many 
comrades  go  down  in  battle,  many  others  wound- 
ed and  carried  off  to  the  hospital.  We  thank  Thee 
for  Thy  loving  care  over  us.  We  have  not  been 
\\'orthy  of  Thy  goodness,  oh,  God,  but  Thou  hast 
been  merciful.  Bless  my  comrades  here,  oh  God, 
forgive  us  all  our  sins,  and  don't  let  any  of  us  go 
down  to  death  without  saving  our  souls.  Protect 
us  this  night  from  the  shells  and  from  gas.  Grant 
that  soon  the  war  might  be  over  and  peace  shall 
come  on  the  earth  again.  Bless  our  dear  loved 
ones  in  America,  protect  them,  and  grant  we  may 
all  meet  again.    For  Christ's  sake.  Amen." 

The  next  morning  the  glad  new^s  reached  us 
that  the  Armistice  had  been  signed  and  that  to- 
morrow at  11  o'clock  all  hostilities  were  to  cease. 

Fletcher  Benson  went  back  to  the  lines  and  I 
saw  no  more  of  him  till  tw-o  weeks  after  the  war 
finished  up.  I  was  preaching  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
hut  out  from  the  front  lines  and  he  found  it  out 
and  came  over.  I  was  anxious  to  know  what  he 
intended  to  do  when  he  got  back  home  again,  and 


102        THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


I  was  glad  to  hear  him  say  that  he  meant  to  go 
back  to  school  to  prepare  for  the  ministry.  He 
said,  *'The  war  has  taught  me  many  things.  I 
have  had  all  kinds  of  experience  but  through  it 
all  God  has  kept  me  clean.  There  are  a  great 
many  problems  coming  up  before  the  country  with 
our  returning  soldiers,  and  I  feel  as  though  I 
might  be  able  to  contribute  a  little  to  the  church 
and  the  ministry  from  the  many  experiences  I 
have  had  in  I'rance.  I  know  one  thing,  I  feel  more 
deeply  settled  in  God  and  the  old  gospel  than  ever 
before  in  my  life  and  I  want  to  live  to  preach  a 
free  and  full  salvation  and  to  testify  to  the  won- 
derful grace  of  a  mighty  Savior." 

A,nd  now,  dear  reader,  I  have  set  forth  this 
sketch  purposely  to  show  that  thousands  of  splen- 
did youths  have  been  in  Uncle  Sam's  army  in 
France  and  have  been  kept  true  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  tests  to  faith  and  manhood.  They  have 
lived  the  praying  life,  they  have  kept  the  faith  and 
will  be  returning  home  the  brighter  and  stronger 
for  the  many  things  they  have  passed  through. 
And  don't  forget  this  also,  that  with  the  return  of 
the  soldier  boys  there  will  come  a  splendid  oppor- 
tunity to  win  them  to  Christ.  Many  of  them  will 
be  hungry  for  church,  and  the  old-time  home 
preaching  again — they  did  not  get  much  of  that 
here  in  France.  Let  our  returning  soldiers  have 
the  warmest  kind  of  welcome,  but  don't  neglect 
the  opportunity  of  winning  them  for  Christ  and 
the  Church. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


PEACE. 

When  I  left  home  Christmas  day,  1917,  I 
thought  I  was  going  on  a  two  years'  service.  The 
great  German  offensive  and  success  of  March, 
1918,  indicated  that  the  war  was  not  going  to  end 
that  year.   Things  looked  black  in  the  spring. 

Time  fled  fast.  The  weeks  and  months  have 
gone  by  rather  fast  because  the  year  was  one  of 
ceaseless  activities  and  a  goodly  portion  of  it  spent 
on  battle  fronts.  Often  have  I  longed  for  home 
and  loved  ones  and  have  had  that  which  the  Ger- 
mans call  ''Heimweh''  which  translated  means 
'*ache  for  home.'* 

Often  on  the  long  hikes  with  the  army  in  the 
dark,  rainy  nights,  have  I  longed  for  the  lights 
and  comforts  of  home.  When  our  sleep  would 
have  to  be  on  the  wet  ground  or  in  murky  dug- 
outs or  trenches,  and  our  *'eats"  would  be  coffee 
without  any  ''fixings,"  and  dry  bread,  sometimes 
''hard  tack;"  when  for  days  no  kitchens  could  ac- 
company us  because  of  shell  fire  and  we  bad  to 
subsist  on  reserve  rations,  I  would  cast  longing 
eyes  towards  the  homeland  and  the  cosy  kitchen 
and  dining-room  and  the  well-prepared  meals,  and 
the  family  circle. 

But  we  all  felt  it  was  war!    From  the  Colonel 
103 


104 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


of  the  Regiment  down  to  the  humble  private  they 
all  took  their  share  of  the  hardships  without 
grumbling.  But  oh,  the  joy,  the  unspeakable  joy 
that  comes  to  us  these  days,  when  we  think  of  it 
— ^the  war  is  over.  We  say  it  to  one  another.  It 
seems  almost  like  a  dream — almost  too  good  to  be 
true. 

I  remember  we  were  on  the  Argonne  front  when 
the  first  gleams  of  peace  began  to  break  upon  the 
dismial  horizon,  and  day  by  day  all  kinds  of  re- 
ports came  across.  We  heard  of  Bulgaria's  sur- 
render, and  then  of  Turkey.  We  knew  if  Austria 
gave  up  it  would  be  good-bye  to  Germany.  I  was 
so  sure  of  it  that  my  over  sanguine  nature  gave 
way,  and  with  Austria's  surrender  I  predicted 
Germany  coming  across  and  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities in  forty-eight  hours.  I  had  to  revise  that 
and,  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  I  put  it  that  the  war 
would  be  over  by  Thanksgiving.  Well,  I  was  on 
the  sure  side  this  time,  and  hostilities  ceased  Nov. 
11  at  11  o'clock.  That  eleventh  hour  was  hailed 
with  feverish  expectancy  by  our  troops.  Sad  is 
it  not  that  in  the  very  last  hour  of  the  war  one  of 
our  preachers  met  his  death  by  an  unfortunate 
Shell!    .  . 

By  a  strange  range  of  circumstances  Sunday, 
Nov.  10,  found  me  in  Paris,  preaching  in  the 
morning  at  an  Aviation  Encampment,  and  my  ev- 
ening appointment  brought  me  to  Versailles 
where  I  preached.  This  visit  to  Versailles  was 
very  interesting  to  me  of  course  because  the  Al- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  105 


lied  Supreme  Council  was  then  meeting  there  to 
determine  the  question  of  Armistice,  etc. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  I  took  a  walk  through  the 
Palace  Gardens,  made  famous  by  the  brilliant 
King  Louis  XIV,  and  his  dazzling  Court.  Voltaire 
estimated  that  Versailles  cost  Louis  XIV  SlOO,- 
000,000,  Mirabeau  said  it  cost  $240,000,000,  Vol- 
ney  put  the  figure  at  $280,000,000.  You  can  take 
your  choice  or  believe  the  more  popular  tale  that 
the  Great  Monarch  was  himself  frightened  when 
he  saw  the  bills  and  tore  them  up,  so  that  no  one 
would  ever  know  w^hat  it  cost.  Twent>^  thousand 
workmen  and  6,000  horses  were  put  to  work 
creating  the  great  park  and  building  the  chateau 
where  the  delegates  of  democracy  are  to  assem- 
ble. The  task  took  a  long  time.  In  1685  a  courtier 
wrote  in  his  diar^':  ''There  are  more  than  36,000 
peasants  now  at  work  for  the  King  in  or  about 
Versailles.  These  half-clad  and  half-stan-'ed 
wretches  die  by  the  dozens  under  the  strain  of  the 
cruel  tasks  imposed  upon  them.  And  when  one  of 
these  workmen  died  in  the  King's  sen^ice  his  fam- 
ily received  $2.50. 

The  Hall  of  Mirrors,  where  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence held  its  sessions,  is  242  feet  long  and  33  feet 
wide  and  measures  43  feet  from  floor  to  ceiling. 
On  one  side  of  it  seventeen  large  mirrors  look  out 
upon  the  stilted  artificial  gardens  which  were  de- 
signed by  Lenotre  under  the  personal  supervision 
of  Louis  XIV.  On  the  other  side  of  the  gallery 
seventeen  large  mirrors  reflect  the  splendors  of 


106       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


the  stately  room.  Paintings  representing  scenes 
in  the  life  of  Louis  the  Magnificent  ornament  the 
ceiling,  sides  and  every  available  vacancy  not 
filled  by  a  mirror. 

As  I  walked  through  its  parks  with  the  trees 
dressed  in  their  autumn  glory,  the  sight  was  in- 
deed entrancing,  yet  the  fading  leaves  spoke  to 
me  of  the  fading  qualities  of  human  glory.  "The 
grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,'*  so  do  kings 
and  empires!  Think  if  you  will,  of  nations  and 
thrones  that  have  faded  out.  Egypt  gone,  Assyria, 
Chaldea,  Persia,  Rome  and  Greece  and  now  we  see 
the  fading  away  of  Austria  as  an  empire,  and 
Germany  too.  Thrones  have  tottered,  crowns 
have  gone  to  the  scrap-heap,  kings  and  queens  in- 
to exile,  and  Europe  is  like  an  old  house  that  has 
got  to  be  torn  down  to  its  very  foundations  to 
make  room  for  something  new  and  different. 

But  oh,  the  joy  of  peace!  I  was  in  a  great  city 
where  are  the  headquarters  of  the  A.  E.  F.,  when 
hostilities  ceased,  and  at  once  the  city  was  decora- 
ted with  the  tri-color  of  France,  the  Union  Jack  of 
Old  England,  and  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  of 
U.  S.  A.  French  people  were  wild  with  joy  and  as 
the  band  played  the  people  exulted  so  as  to  get 
beyond  themselves. 

And  now  the  war  is  over  what  of  conditions 
religiously.  A  friend  writing  me  from  New  Jer- 
sey thinks  that  the  churches  need  to  be  aroused 
to  meet  ''conditions  that  will  be  upon  us  after  the 
war  is  over.    Our  soldier  boys  should  be  met  by 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  107 


the  church,  not  simply  by  giving  out  flowers  and 
refreshments,  but  by  offering  a  Christ  who  satis- 
fies." do  not  know,"  writes  my  friend,  "what 
will  be  the  conditions  of  the  soldier  boys'  con- 
science when  they  return,  but  I  do  know  what 
should  be  the  attitude  of  the  church  in  receiving 
them  ....  After  the  war  is  won  for  democracy 
shall  it  produce  pride  and  self-conceit?"  Well,  as 
I  see  it  when  the  boys  come  marching  home  the 
church  should  meet  them  with  a  vital  gospel  be- 
cause, to  be  perfectly  frank,  they  have  not  had 
much  of  that  in  France.  My  own  conviction  is 
that  the  only  thing  that  will  meet  the  case  will  be 
the  old  gospel  and  the  full  gospel. 

I  have  heard  men  talk  about  the  war  giving  us 
a  nev/  theology,  a  new  gospel,  a  new  vision  of 
God,  a  new  pulpit.  I  have  heard  them  say  that 
after  the  war  men  will  no  longer  stand  for  the 
kind  of  gospel  that  the  preachers  have  preached 
for  so  long  a  time.  When  you  first  hear  that,  you 
may  be  carried  away  with  the  novelty  of  it  for  the 
present  and  you  might  find  yourself  yielding  a 
kind  of  assent  to  it,  but  let  me  advise  you  to  go 
slow  in  changing  your  point  of  view  or  trading 
awiay  your  old  faith  for  the  new. 

Bear  in  mind  that  the  Christian  faith  is  not  a 
bit  of  machinery  that  is  subject  to  so  many  im- 
provements that  a  thing  a  couple  or  three  years 
old  is  thrown  on  the  dump  heap  as  useless  since 
the  newest  thing  has  come  out.  Bear  in  mind  that 
the  Christian  faith  is  the  best  thing  that  has  ever 


108 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


been  found  to  bless  the  human  soul— -to  heal  its 
wounds,  to  wash  away  its  guilt,  assuage  its  sor- 
rows, cleanse  its  defilement,  illuminate  its  dark- 
ness and  bring  it  back  to  its  God,  its  Saviour,  its 
Refuge,  its  Home,  its  Heaven. 

Now  the  war  is  over,  the  paramount  question  is, 
"When  are  we  going  home?"  Before  the  Armis- 
tice the  question  was,  *'When  will  the  war  be 
over?'*  I  have  had  to  answer  those  questions 
times  without  number,  as  best  I  could.  The 
other  night  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  hut  I  got  myself  in 
quite  a  fix  with  a  big  audience  of  New  York 
troops  who  are  longing  to  see  the  Statue  of  Lib- 
erty again  as  soon  as  possible.  I  told  them  that  at 
the  close  of  the  program  I  would  try  and  tell  them 
when  they  would  be  going  home.  I  afterward  saw 
that  I  had  involved  myself  into  quite  a  task.  At 
the  end  of  the  program  it  came  on  me  like  a  sort 
of  inspiration,  * 'Valentine's  Day,"  so  I  told  them 
they  might  expect  to  be  home  by  Valentine's  Day, 
1919.  I  hardly  think  I  was  far  astray.  The  troops 
long  for  home  now  that  the  war  is  over. 

Talk  all  you  might  about  ''LaBelle,  France,"  to 
them,  it  has  no  attraction  for  the  bulk  of  them — 
they  are  longing  for  "home,  sweet  home," 
longing  for  mother's  touch,  and  sister's  love, 
and  wife's  embrace,  and  children's  kisses, 
and  the  old  homestead  or  farm ;  and  the  little 
dhuroh  by  the  cross  roads,  and  the  school-house 
where  they  attend  the  country  Sunday  school,  and 
the  boys  from  the  city  long  for  Broadway  and 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  PXAG 


109 


State  Street,  and  the  park  and  the  city  crowds. 
One  boy  in  the  hospital  got  so  homesick  that  he 
could  not  eat,  and  there  seemed  but  little  prospect 
of  his  getting  better,  till  one  day  one  of  the  good 
nurses  thought  of  something,  and  she  made  a  pie 
like  ''mother  used  to  make,"  and  brought  it  to 
the  sick  boy.  It  aroused  his  appetite,  he  ate  it 
with  great  relish,  and  soon  he  was  on  the  mend, 
and  will  see  mother  and  the  old  home  again.  The 
coming  back  of  the  boys  from  France  will  mean 
a  great  home  coming. 

Many  of  the  boys  will  come  home  out  of  ''great 
tribulation."  They  have  been  in  the  trenches  and 
dugouts,  and  out  at  the  battle  front  where  they 
have  fought  the  enemy  and  seen  war  in  all  its 
hideous  realities.  Some  of  them  will  never  get 
over  the  shock  of  war.  One  boy,  in  the  insane  hos- 
pital, was  talking  to  the  Chaplain.  He  looked  all 
right,  and,  for  awhile,  talked  all  right,  then  he 
said  "Chaplain,  I  am  not  crazy,  I  am  all  right.  I 
tell  you.  Chaplain,  how  it  was;  me  and  my  chum 
were  marching  along  when  a  shell  came  across 
and  just  cut  my  buddie's  head  clean  off.  I  went 
over  where  he  lay  and  picked  up  his  head  and  put 
it  on  again  and  said,  'Buddie,  come  along  now  with 
me,'  and  I  tell  you,  Sir,  he  wouldn't  come  along." 

The  shock,  the  sight,  the  horror  of  the  thing 
was  too  great  for  that  poor  soldier  boy ;  his  brain 
turned,  and  it  is  a  grave  question  as  to  whether 
he  ever  will  get  his  mind  back  again.  Yet,  there 
is  a  possibility  because  he  is  young. 


110 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


Last  Sunday  I  was  preaching  at  an  encamp- 
ment, when  the  Y.  M.  €.  A.  Secretary  said  to  me : 
"Could  you  stay  over  and  conduct  a  funeral  ser- 
vice?" I  said  I  would.  The  circumstances  led  me 
to  chiange  my  subject  and  to  preadh  to  the  sol- 
diers a  sermon  on  heaven.  Would  the  readers 
like  to  know  what  the  sermon  was  like?  Well,  I 
think  I  will  put  down  some  notes  of  the  message. 
The  text  was  Rev.  21 :2 :  "And  I,  John  saw  the 
holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God 
out  of  heaven  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her 
husband.''  I  said  in  part,  "We  are  indebted  to 
John,  for  the  fullest  description  of  heaven  we 
have  in  the  Bible.  Jesus  told  us  about  the  many 
mansions  in  John  14,  but  here  in  this  chapter  we 
have  heaven  described  to  us  as  a  city.  Now  what 
is  there  about  a  city  that  distinguishes  it  from  all 
other  places  ? 

1.  A  city  is  a  place  of  mansions  and  homes. 
People  crowd  in  the  cities  and  make  them  their 
homes.  Heaven  is  a  home  city.  It  has  many  man- 
sions. 

2.  A  citj^  is  a  place  of  many  people.  So  is 
heaven.  John  saw  multitudes  there  which  no  man 
could  number,  and  they  were  of  all  tongues  and 
races  and  nations  and  families. 

3.  A  city  is  a  place  where  there  is  much  beauty 
and  music.  Some  cities  are  renowned  for  their 
beauty,  like  Paris,  or  Venice,  or  Los  Angeles. 
They  have  beautiful  avenues,  parks,  statuary,  pic- 
tures, etc.,  and  in  the  city  there  is  mudh  music. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  111 


So  with  heaven ;  beauty  is  there— there  the  trees 
of  Paradise  grow,  and  the  trees  of  life  beside  the 
River  of  Life.  I  expect  there  are  flowers  there — 
the  lily  and  rose,  and  daisy  and  daffodil,  and  as  for 
music,  there  will  be  abundance  there.  John,  in 
Rev.  14:  ''I  heard  the  voice  of  harpers  harping 
with  their  harps  and  they  sung  as  it  were  a  new 
song  before  the  throne."  John  heard  the  angelic 
choir  singing  around  the  throne:  "The  number  of 
them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  and 
thousands  of  thousands,"  and  the  song  they  sang 
was : 

"Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain. 
To  receive  power  and  riches. 
And  wisdom  and  strength  and 
Honor  and  glory  and  blessing. 
Blessing  and  honor  and  glory. 
And  powder  be  unto  Him 
That  sitteth  upon  the  throne, 
And  unto  the  Lamb, 
For  ever  and  ever." 
Music  hath  charms,  and  in  heaven  we  shall  be 
charmed  with  its  music.   David  v/ill  then  play  on 
his  golden  harp,  and  the  sweet  singers  of  Israel 
will  chant  God's  praise  whilst  the  redeemed'  from 
all  the  earth  shall  shout  aloud  redemption's  song. 

Today  the  land  is  being  filled  with  music,  be- 
cause the  war  is  over.  Our  Regiments  carry 
with  them  their  bands,  and  when  the  bands  play 
the  soldier's  heart  beats  fast  with  a  new  joy. 
Music  has  often  inspired  the  troops  when  weary 


112       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


with  the  march,  and  we  are  told  of  one  Scottish 
musician  who,  during  the  battle,  played  his  bag- 
pipes to  encourage  his  fighting  comrades,  while 
the  shot  and  shell  fell  thick  and  fast.  He  played 
on  and  on  while  they  fought,  until  he  himself  got 
a  fatal  s>iot  and  death  silenced  him. 

4.  Heaven  is  the  home  of  the  soul.  Home  nev- 
er felt  sw^eeter  to  us  than  now.  We  dream  about 
it  and  the  loved  one  there.  We  are  all  longing  for 
the  time  when  the  ship  hauls  into  the  pier  and  we 
get  on  board  and  then  say  good-hye  to  France,  and 
face  the  western  sky  and  our  homes.  So  after 
life's  battles  are  fought  we  want  to  make  heaven 
at  last  and  go  to  the  home  of  the  soul. 

5.  We  must  remember  next  what  it  means  to 
get  to  heaven.  We  must  be  a  candidate  for  it  and 
run  for  it.  We  must  let  the  world  know  that 
we  are  heaven-bound.  We  must  be  sure  to  have 
things  so  arranged  that  we  shall  not  be  disap- 
pointed. If  I  desire  to  go  to  Paris  I  must  get  my 
ticket  and  get  on  the  train  that  goes  that  way.  So 
we  must  take  care  that  we  are  headed  right  for 
heaven  if  we  want  to  make  that  city  our  heavenly 
home.  Then  we  must  remember  the  mark  to  be 
borne  by  those  who  come  up  to  heaven's  gate. 
John  indicates,  in  Revelation,  when  the  question 
was  asked  about  the  great  company,  "Who  are 
these  arrayed  in  white  and  Whence  came  they?" 
The  reply  was,  "These  are  they  that  have  come  up 
out  of  great  tribulation  and  washed  their  robes  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb.'' 


THE  CROSS  AND  TH  EPLAG 


113 


Note  two  things  here,  'They  have  come  up  out 
of  great  tribulation/'  Many  of  our  soldier  boys 
are  going  back  home  out  of  great  tribulation.  They 
are  going  to  bear  wound  marks  and  they  are  priv- 
ileged to  wear  "wound  stripes."  I  remember  the 
doctor  who  got  wounded  when  the  Huns  shelled 
us  at  our  dressing  station  at  St.  Giles.  He  went 
to  the  hospital,  got  well  again,  but  when  he  re- 
turned he  was  wearing  a  wound  stripe  on  his  arm. 
Those  wound  stripes  are  honorable — they  testify 
that  the  bearer  was  in  toattle  or  in  the  war  zone 
where  dangers  abounded,  he  endangered  his  life 
for  his  country's  sake  and  gave  up  all.  So  vdth 
regard  to  heaven.  When  we  get  there  we  shall 
bear  the  marks  of  battle,  and  remember  we  have 
an  enemy  to  fig^ht  more  dreadful  and  powerful 
than  the  Hun — that  enemy  is  the  world,  the  flesh 
and  the  devil. 

In  our  conflicts  with  this  triple  foe  we  shall 
suffer  bruises  and  wounds,  but  may  come  off  more 
than  conqueror  through  Him  who  hath  loved  us. 
Then  we  must  bear  the  blood  mark.  When  we  get 
to  heaven's  gate  we  shall  not  get  through  because 
v/e  are  Protestant,  Catholic,  or  Jew — we  shall  not 
get  through  because  we  have  fought  on  the  battle- 
fields of  France ;  the  rich  man  shall  not  get 
through  because  of  his  money,  nor  the  learned 
man  because  of  his  culture,  nor  the  great  man  be- 
cause of  his  renown — there  is  just  one  condition, 
"we  must  be  washed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 


CHAPTER  XVI 


PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL  IN  GERMANY. 

At  this  writing  I  am  in  Germany  working  with 
the  troops  of  the  Army  of  Occupation.  For  a  few 
days,  including  Sunday,  I  was  with  the  Rainbow 
Division.  At  the  present  I  am  with  my  old  Divis- 
ion with  which  I  spent  seven  months,  including 
the  five  months  I  was  on  the  battle  lines  with 
them.  I  am  particularly  pleased  that  on  the  home 
stretch  I  have  been  put  with  the  famous  Third 
again.  It  was  my  old  Regiment,  the  38th  Infan- 
try, that  Pershing  in  his  report  said,  "Wrote  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  pages  in  military  history.'* 
It  was  my  lot  to  be  with  them  when  they  were 
writing  that  chapter.  It  happened  July  15-16,  and 
looking  at  it  now  it  looks  like  a  perfect  miracle  how 
that  one  Regiment  held  the  Germans  as  they  at- 
tempted to  cross  the  Marne — ^held  them  after  the 
125th  French  had  retired ;  held  them  through  ter- 
rific odds  and  succeeded  in  throwing  three  Ger- 
man Divisions  into  confusion  (about  ten  times 
their  number) .  I  remember  what  a  time  we  had 
down  at  the  old  Chateau  where  Biattalion  Head- 
quarters were  attending  the  wounded  as  they 
were  brought  into  us  from  the  neai^y  hill  and  the 
river  bank  where  the  German  hordes  were  trying 
to  break   loose   upon   us.   I  remember  Captain 

114 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  115 


Burleson  in  charge  of  our  defences  at  the  Chateau 
that  day  and  night,  how  he  told  me  that  he  had 
the  place  bristling  with  machine  guns  and  eveiy 
man  at  night  standing  with  bayonet  fixed.  I  can 
recall  his  expression  as  he  said,  "'We  were  to  fight 
to  the  last  man,"  and  I  can  recall,  too,  how  he 
shook  his  head  in  doubt  as  to  the  final  issue  when 
I  asked  him  '"'How  things  were  looking."  It  must 
be  confessed  that  for  twenty-four  hours,  at  least, 
things  did  look  rather  black  for  us.  If  the  Bat- 
talion had  not  held  the  lines  the  Germans 
would  have  got  us — there  would  have  been 
no  help  for  us,  as  our  retreat  would  have  been 
completely  cut  off.  That  was  one  time  when  I 
looked  either  death  or  capture  right  in  the  face. 
It  all  depended  on  into  whose  hands  we  fell  if  the 
enemy  got  us.  Some  officers  would  have  com- 
manded the  wiping  of  us  all  out.  Red  Cross  or  Y. 
M.  C.  A.  insignia  did  not  count  for  much  with 
some  Germans,  when  things  fell  their  way,  but 
thank  God,  the  38th  Regiment  did  not  know  how 
to  retreat  or  run  away  and  they  determined  to 
stick  it  out  and  they  did.  They  held  the  lines! 
They  held  all  day  and  all  night.  They  held  until 
reinforcements  came.   They  saved  the  situation ! 

I  must  confess  that  it  is  a  genuine  pleasure  to 
get  back  to  that  38th  Regiment.  At  present  I  am 
with  the  4th,  but  next  week  I  shall  move  up  to 
headquarters  of  the  38th.  I  expect  to  have  a  good 
time  preaching  the  gospel  to  them.  At  one  time 
last  August  this  Regiment  was  out  to  rest  for 


116       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


nearly  three  weeks,  and  during  that  time  on  Sun- 
days we  had  intense  religious  interest.  Sunday 
nights  we  had  old-fashioned  evangelistic  meet- 
ings and  the  interest  was  so  keen  that  I  felt  if  I 
could  open  a  protracted  meeting  for  ten  days  there 
we  would  have  had  hundreds  turn  to  Christ — ^the 
fact  was  the  battle  they  had  been  in  had  brought 
them  face  to  face  with  death  and  eternity  and  they 
remembered  God  and  began  to  pray.  A  Hebrew 
Sergeant  said  to  me  one  day :  "I  tell  you  a  lot  of  us 
have  prayed  more  the  past  few  weeks  than  ever 
before  in  our  lives,  and,  as  for  me,  I  am  a  dif- 
ferent man.''  Strange,  too,  to  relate  that  this 
man,  a  Jew,  came  to  all  our  religious  services  and 
requested  the  privilege  of  joining  our  Regimental 
Church!  In  the  38th  Regiment  I  met  an  Asbury 
student — Benson  by  name — a  good  fellow  and  a 
true-blue  Christian  soldier.  He  had  been  study- 
ing for  the  ministry  when  the  war  broke  out  but 
did  not  play  the  shirker — ^he  made  a  good  soldier. 
Many  talks  did  we  have  together,  and  it  was  a 
great  pleasure  to  have  him  in  the  services  to  lead 
in  prayer  and  otherwise  help.  I  believe  Benson 
came  out  of  the  fight  without  injury.  The  last 
time  I  was  with  him  he  and  I  were  dodging  Ger- 
man shells  up  the  Argonne  as  we  went  in  search 
of  Regimental  P.  C.  to  see  Colonel  Adams.  I 
hope  Benson  will  get  back  to  Asbury  to  finish  his 
studies  and  I  am  sure  his  experiences  on  the  battle- 
field will  make  a  stronger  man  and  preacher  out 
of  him. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


117 


Well  to  return  to  Germany!  I  came  from 
Paris  to  Metz  and  then  into  Goblenz,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  American  Army  of  Occupation.  I 
stayed  over  a  Sunday  at  Metz  to  preach  at  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  In  the  morning  I  went  to  the  service 
at  the  Cathedral.  It  seemed  a  pity  that  such  a 
magnificent  church  should  not  be  devoted  to  real 
religion  instead  of  religious  mummery.  As  I  sat 
there  I  thought  of  Martin  Luther  coming  back 
and  ascending  that  old  pulpit  and  preaching  to 
that  crowd  of  hungry,  needy  people  out  of  the 
blessed  Word  of  God  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ.  I  could  almost  hear  him  rebuke  the 
priests  adorned  in  their  gaudy  glittering  robes 
and  saying:  ''Here!  here!  Give  this  people  bread, 
not  stones;  give  them  the  gospel,  not  Latin 
phrases;  give  them  real  prayers,  not  mum- 
mery.  Lift  up  your  voices,  0  ye  priests,  and  de- 
clare comforts  to  the  mourners,  consolation  for 
the  sorrowing,  cleansing  for  the  unclean,  pardon 
for  the  sinning  through  a  Savior  crucified  and 
risen  again  for  our  justification!  Away  with 
your  empty  forms  and  lip  service;  rend  your 
gaudy  garments  in  sincere  repentance,  turn  your 
hearts  toward  God  and  lead  the  people  to  the 
'Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world.' 

The  land  that  g<ave  Luther  birth  needs  his  life 
again  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  these  days 
of  their  defeat  and  misery  and  sorrow  over  mill- 
ions of  their  fathers  and  sons  slain  in  battle,  to- 


118       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


wards  the  God  whom  Luther  knew  and  preached 
as  the  Mighty  Savior  and  Justifier. 

Outside  of  the  Metz  Cathedral,  close  to  one  of 
the  entrances,  is  the  statue  of  the  Prophet  Dan- 
iel, but  the  hideous  feature  ahout  it,  it  has  the 
Kaiser's  head  on  it — upturned  moustache  and  al, " 
The  story  is  that  the  Kaiser  had  poor  Daniel's 
head  taken  off  and  his  own  placed  there  instead. 
Think  of  the  monsrt:rous  travesty!  What  a  piece 
of  monumental  assumption!  And  what  a  libel 
on  beloved  Daniel!  I  presume  the  French  who 
now  are  in  charge  of  Metz  will  let  that  thing  stay 
there  as  a  testimony  to  the  crazy  William,  who 
assumes  at  times,  to  be  the  special  ambassador  of 
the  "'Most  High"  Whilst  he  was  engaged  in  the 
m.oist  murderous  business  that  the  devil  ever  put 
a  potentate  to  do. 

After  leaving  Metz  I  came  next  to  Coblenz,  the 
headquarters  of  the  American  Army  of  Occupa- 
tion. This  great  German  stronghold,  with  its  im- 
mense fortress  across  the  River  Rhine,  is  now  in 
full  charge  of  the  Americans.  Whilst  lat  Coblenz 
I  had  a  singular  experience.  There  came  on  my 
soul  a  great  agony  of  prayer,  and  in  order  to  get 
alone  where  I  could  talk  to  God,  I  went  down  one 
ni^ht  and  there  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  I  had 
one  of  the  most  gracious  seasons  of  prayer  I  have 
had  since  I  came  in  the  army.  I  felt  that  over  in 
the  homeland  somebody  had  been  praying  for  me 
and  God  had  turned  the  praying  now  into  my  own 
soul,  and  my  soul  was  refre^ed  and  com'forted 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  119 


and  strengthened  as  I  breathed  out  and  talked  out 
to  God  my  yearnings  of  soul  for  myself  and  for 
the  soldiers  among  whom  I  was  going  to  put  in  a 
month  of  special  work. 

Last  Sunday  I  preached  to  troops  of  the  Seventh 
Regiment,  morning  and  night.  Especially  at  the 
night  service  did  we  have  the  gracious  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  present  and  I  felt  my  heart  go 
out  very  freely  as  I  preached  Christ  and  salva- 
tion throug^h  grace  Divine. 

During  these  days  of  the  Occupation  the  army 
is  giving  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  soldiers' 
recreation,  entertainment,  education,  etc.,  and  we 
have  many  more  opportunities  of  meeting  th<3 
men  in  groups  and  assemblies.  The  men  seem 
hungry  for  the  religious  services  when  Sundays 
come  and  we  are  putting  much  more  emphasis 
upon  the  religious  program. 

LAST  DAYS  IN  FRANCE. 

After  coming  out  of  Germany,  having  finished 
my  itinerary  lecturing  and  preaching  to  my  old 
Third  Division  along  the  Rhine,  I  came  back  to 
Paris  to  arrange  my  affairs  preparatory  to  going 
home.  While  in  Paris  I  met  Bishop  Anderson, 
who  is  the  Bishop  in  charge  of  the  French  work 
in  connection  with  our  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  American-French  work.  I  also  met  Bish- 
op Harris,  of  Korea  here — ^the  old  missionary  vet- 
eran of  the  cross,  was  now  on  his  way  to  Jerusa- 
lem. His  face  was  lighted  up  with  holy  gladness 
as  he  talked  of  Palestine  being  now  free  and  the 


120 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


holy  places  no  longer  under  the  Turk.  He  re- 
minded me  some  of  old  Simeon  of  the  gospel  who 
when  he  ^aw  the  Christ  child  was  satisfied  and 
said:  ''Now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace  ....  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salva- 
tion.'* 

General  Allenby  and  the  British  Army  seemed 
to  have  been  God's  chosen  instrumenits  to  bring 
aibout  this  event  of  world-wide  religious  signifi- 
cance— ^the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem  and  the  set- 
ting free  of  the  land  made  sacred  by  a  thousand 
Biiblical  events  and  the  life  and  ministry  of  our 
Lord  Himself. 

Another  man  I  met  in  Paris  was  Rev.  E.  W. 
Bysshe,  D.D.,  who  is  superintendent  of  our  Meth- 
o'disit  work  in  France.  He  has  heen  in  France  over 
ten  years  during  which  churches  and  orp'hanages 
have  been  planted  in  many  parts  of  France.  Dr. 
Bysshe  will  be  known  to  many  of  the  old  friends 
of  Taylor  University  and  also  Peniel,  Texas. 
Bishop  Burt  sent  him  to  open  up  work  in  France 
over  ten  years  ago,  and  now  the  work  under  him 
has  grown  so  that  he  must  have  several  men  come 
to  his  rescue  and  help  superintend  and  push  the 
work  of  Methodism  in  France.  A  great  door  of  op- 
portunity is  opening  up  in  France  for  the  spread 
of  the  gospel.  France  has  had  Protestant  church- 
es for  centuries,  but  the  work  has  hecome  formal 
and  cold  and  the  great  need  now  is  for  a  move- 
ment with  the  old-time  power  and  the  fire  of  Pen- 
tecost about  it. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  121 


After  getting  my  clearance  papers  in  Paris,  I 
came  down  to  Marseilles  and  spent  a  couple  of 
weeks  in  the  Riviera — that  portion  of  France 
where  possibly  that  much  misunderstood  term 
(among  our  soldier  boys  at  least)  ''Sunny 
France,"  originated  first.  Washed  by  the  azure 
waves  of  the  Mediterranean  and  sheltered  by  the 
mountains  and  hills  that  come  down  from  the  Al- 
pine ranges  and  smiled  upon  by  the  cloudless  skies 
and  sunned  nearly  all  the  year  round,  this  section 
of  France  is  where  nature  exhibits  her  charms  in 
beautiful  flowers  and  foliage,  her  bounties  in  lus- 
cious fruits  and  the  exquisite  and  picturesque  in 
landscape,  coast  and  sea.  *'Tres  joli"  is  the  favor- 
ite French  expression  for  the  beautiful.  We  would 
say  all  this  country  of  the  Riviera  is  indeed  '"tres 
joli" — very  beautiful  indeed — ^truly,  I  think,  as 
beautiful  a  bit  of  country  as  can  be  found  in  Eu- 
rope or  anywhere  upon  the  earth.  All  this  section 
had  been  opened  by  the  American  Army  as  a  leave 
area  to  our  soldiers  and  it  has  afforded  thousands 
of  them  the  opportunity  of  their  lives  to  visit  this 
part  of  Sunny  France  and  to  visit  historic  spots 
where  the  great  Caesars  and  Hannibal,  Constan- 
tine  and  the  latter  kings  and  conquerors,  includ- 
ing Napoleon,  fought  some  of  their  battles,  over- 
came their  enemies,  conquered  territory,  hung  out 
their  banners,  built  their  towers  and  strongholds 
and  lived  out  their  short  days. 

Nice  is  a  city  famous  for  its  beautiful  situation 
on  the  Mediterranean,  for  its  flowers  and  gardens 


122 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


and  villas,  its  vines  and  palm  trees,  and  its  tiled 
houses  of  yellowish  White.  It  is  famous  in  history. 
It  dates  from.  B.  C.  530,  iso  that  it  was  a  city  many 
centuries  before  Christ  was  horn.  It  was  here,  A. 
D.,  that  the  great  council  of  Nice  was  held 
and  the  Nicene  creed  formulated  by  which  the  Di- 
vinity of  Christ  was  made  an  important  and  em- 
phatic article  of  the  Christian  confession  of  faith. 

I  spent  just  a  day  or  two  at  Nice  as  I  felt  I  was 
on  duty,  and  with  Sunday  so  near  I  moved  on  to 
Monte  Cario  where  the  program  for  the  Sunday 
was  completed  and  I  went  on  to  Mentone  where 
I  preached  in  the  Theatre  of  the  Casino  to  our  sol- 
dier boys.  I  continued  at  this  place  over  two  Sun- 
days as  Religious  Director.  It  was  a  matter  of 
great  interest  to  me  to  be  located  at  Mentone  for 
more  than  a  week.  I  had  read  of  this  place  a 
great  deal  in  connection  with  the  great  Spurgeon's 
life.  It  was  at  Mentone  he  used  to  come  w^hen 
tired  and  ill — ^he  was  a  great  sufferer  as  weW  as  a 
great  preaciher,  and  it  was  at  Mentone  that  he 
died.  Frequently  he  preached  when  at  Mentone. 
At  his  hotel  he  would  hold  morning  prayers  for 
those  who  wished  to  attend,  and  frequently  as 
many  as  forty  would  be  in  attendance.  Some- 
times he  held  parlor  services  which  brought,  of 
course,  always  a  capacity  audience.  One  evening 
in  one  of  the  homes  they  held  a  reception  for  him. 
It  was  attended  by  people  of  all  creeds — ^high 
church  people  and  low.  During  the  evening  exer- 
cises Spurgeon  was  called  upon  to  speak  a  few 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  123 


minutes.  He  told  very  simply  the  wonderful  lead- 
ings of  the  Lord  in  regard  to  his  Taibernacle  work, 
his  orphanages,  etc.  His  hearers  were  deeply 
moved  and  at  the  close  of  his  address  a  high 
church  clergyman  with  tears  in  his  eyes  exclaim- 
ed, "Let  us  pray,"  fell  upon  his  knees  and  gave 
forth  the  most  hearty  thanks  to  God  for  the  mes- 
sage they  had  heard. 

Mentone  was  also  a  place  of  great  interest  to 
me  because  of  an  orphanage  there  which  is  being 
carried  on  under  the  auspices  of  our  American 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Before  arranging 
for  my  hotel,  I  made  a  call  at  the  orphanage  and 
met  the  Directress,  a  very  devout,  educated  Swiss 
lady  of  the  Swiss  Protestant  Church.  She  ad- 
dressed me  first  in  French  and  then  dropped  into 
English.  She  was  pleased  to  see  an  American 
preacher  and  took  pleasure  in  showing  me  through 
the  orphanage.  Before  leaving  I  said  something 
about  securing  a  hotel  and  then  she  said  they  had 
a  room  fitted  up  for  visitors,  and  if  I  chose  I 
could  hold  that  room  during  my  stay  in  Mentone. 
1  was  delighted  because  there  is  nothing  that  gives 
me  more  pleasure  than  to  be  with  the  children.  I 
had  a  good  time  there  with  those  French  boys 
and  girls  and  became  known  to  them  as  "Uncle 
George."  Some  of  the  children  were  war  orphans. 
One  little  fellow,  Emile,  was  one  of  five  children 
in  a  f  amily  up  in  Alsace  whose  home  the  Germans 
destroyed  and  killed  father  and  mother.  I  took 
the  children  out  on  several  excursions  to  the  great 


124       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


amusement  of  the  soldiers  who  would  remark  as  I 
passed  by  with  my  children,  *'You  have  a  large 
family,  sir/'  To  be  sure  the  children  had  some 
extras  while  Uncle  George  was  there,  and  when 
I  left  them  and  said  ''au  revoir''  for  the  last  time 
some  of  them  clung  to  my  neck  and  wet  my  cheeks 
with  their  tears.  They  wanted  to  sing  at  evening 
prayers,  "God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again,"  but 
I  restrained  them  from  it.  I  did  not  want  to  make 
my  going  away  too  sad  for  them.  Two  of  those 
dhildren,  George  and  Suzanne,  must  be  sent  away 
to  a  Sanitarium  in  Switzerland  if  we  will  save 
them  from  tuberculosis.  I  have  partly  promised 
to  raise  $300  each  for  them.  One  year  there  will 
probably  dispel  the  danger  that  now  awaits  them. 
Their  poor  mother  died  of  tuberculosis  while  their 
father  was  at  w^ar. 

While  on  the  Riviera  I  visited  Monte  Carlo — 
Europe's  famous  gambling  resort.  This  place  and 
Monaco  is  a  little  principality  all  of  itself,  separ- 
ate from  France,  though  in  France  geographical- 
ly. The  Prince  of  Monaco  owns  and  controls  the 
place,  but  they  all  say  his  rule  has  been  most  kind 
and  generous.  He  is  a  noted  scientist  and  navi- 
gator. On  his  yacht,  the  Princess  Alice,  he  has 
gone  around  the  world  time  and  again  and  has 
contributed  immensely  to  scientific  knowledge  in 
the  realm  of  navigation — the  deep  seas,  currents, 
etc.  He  has  built  a  wonderful  museum  at  Monaco 
in  which  the  wonders  of  the  great  deep  are  repre- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


125 


sented  by  all  kinds  of  specimens — possibly  this  is 
the  finest  aquarium  in  Europe. 

Both  Monte  Carlo  and  Monaco  are  wonderful 
beauty  spots,  veritable  gardens  of  paradise  with 
associations,  however,  of  the  most  wicked,  be- 
cause here  amid  all  this  beauty  of  shining  shore 
and  gardens  gorgeous  and  palm  tree  and  foliage 
superb  there  is  carried  on  one  of  the  most  seduc- 
tive and  nefarious  occupations — the  gambling 
business.  It  attracts  people  from  all  parts.  La- 
dies adorned  in  their  silks,  gentlemen  in  their 
broadcloths,  the  rich  with  their  expensive  liveries, 
come  here  to  try  the  sport,  and  then  some  come 
here  with  dreams  of  riches  under  cover  of  a  few 
hundred  or  a  few  thousand  francs.  They  enter 
the  game,  the  wheek  go  around  which  bring  to 
them  loss  and  disaster,  and  sometimes  suicide. 
There  is  a  point  which  we  passed  up  on  the  high 
wall  which  is  known  as  ^'suicide  point.'*  You  look 
from  the  dizzy  heights  below  to  jagged  rock  and 
ocean.  Many  a  poor  soul  who  tried  the  Wheel  of 
fortune  only  to  find  misfortune,  ended  it  all,  as 
they  say,  by  throwing  themselves  into  the  sea 
from  this  and  other  suicide  points. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  a  couple  of  Meth- 
odist pastors  (French)  on  the  Riviera,  Rev.  L.  D. 
Martin,  at  Cannes,  and  the  pastor  at  Grasse.  A 
very  interesting  Protestant  work  has  been  in  pro- 
gress at  Cannes  under  the  direction  of  Pastor 
Martin.  He  is  a  Swiss  minister  and  married  a 
good  woman  with  consecrated  money.   This  gave 


126 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


him  the  chance  to  do  lots  of  good.  He  built  and 
maintained  largely  at  his  own  expense,  a  fine  tab- 
ernacle for  evangelistic  work  at  Cannes,  where  he 
has  preached  to  large  congregations.  He  has  been 
feeling  the  need  of  giving  up  the  responsibility  of 
the  work  with  his  declining  health  and  recently 
turned  his  three  churches  over  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  U.  S.  A.  The  Conference 
was  held  there  in  March  with  Bishops  Anderson 
and  Henderson  in  attendance,  and  some  who  were 
there  told  me  that  many  a  meeting  was  of  the  old- 
time  Methodist  kind  in  which  many  rejoiced  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

Coming  back  to  Marseilles  to  take  my  steamer 
to  America,  I  found  that  I  would  have  to  wait  pa- 
tiently my  turn,  and  this  held  me  here  for  over 
ten  days  more.  Marseilles  is  the  second  city  in 
France ;  Paris  stands  first.  It  is  also  the  greatest 
seaport  on  the  Mediterranean.  The  very  ends  of 
the  earth  come  together  here.  It  is  the  gateway 
to  the  East.  All  nations  seem  to  be  represented 
here.  There  were  many  soldiers  of  France  here 
waiting  to  go  back  to  their  homes  in  Morocco  and 
Algiers,  in  French  Africa  and  China,  in  Madagas- 
car and  other  French  possessions  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth. 

In  1721  a  terrible  plague  broke  out  at  Marseilles 
carrying  off  half  of  its  population.  It  was  during 
this  plague  that  a  noted  doctor  in  order  to  give 
science  some  new  facts  on  the  symptoms  and  na- 
ture of  the   disease  voluntarily  contracted  the 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  127 


plague,  and  as  long  as  consciousness  lasted  he  no- 
ted down  his  symptoms  and  data.  Through  his 
sacrifice  the  doctors  were  enabled  to  'better  com- 
bat the  disease. 

I  spent  Good  Friday  at  Marseilles.  In  the 
afternoon  I  went  up  to  the  Notre  Dame-de-la- 
Garde  Church  which  is  a  church  built  upon  a 
rocky  promonotory  south  of  the  harbor  entrance. 
It  is  Catholic  and  dedicated  to  the  Virgin.  An 
immense  gilded  statue  of  the  Virgin  surmounts 
the  belfry  and  this  tower  is  the  last  thing  visible 
to  the  sailor  as  he  puts  out  to  sea  and  the  first 
thing  he  sees  as  he  comes  into  port.  The  church 
holds  special  interest  to  the  sailors  Who  frequent 
Marseilles.  Many  of  them  in  return  for  escape 
from  the  perils  of  the  deep  when  they  return  to 
port,  send  some  token  of  gratitude  to  the  church — 
sometimes  it  takes  the  shape  of  a  miniature  ship, 
and  many  of  these  are  seen  suspended  from  the 
ceilings. 

From  this  church  a  wonderful  panorama  opens 
before  you.  The  great  city  lies  beneath  you;  its 
red  tiled  roofs  on  yellowish  white  houses  give  a 
pleasing  variety  of  color  and  makes  a  striking  pic- 
ture. To  me  the  sight  of  that  great  city  with  its 
sins  and  wickedness  made  me  think  of  Jesus  as  He 
beheld  Jerusalem  and  wept  over  it.  I  have  walked 
the  streets  of  Marseilles  and  saw  its  teeming  mul- 
titudes. I  have  seen  its  gilded  saloons  filled  with 
drinkers;  its  brilliantly  lighted  theaters,  alive 
with  people  and   its  churches  shut   up  tight  at 


128 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


night — its  Protestant  churdhes  shut  tight  nearly 
all  the  time,  except  for  its  formal  services  once 
or  twice  on  the  Sunday,  and  I  have  thought  what 
a  city  to  have  a  live  central  gospel  mission  in, 
brilliantly  lighted  every  night,  open  all  day  long 
for  Christian  service  and  every  night  the  year 
round  for  wide-awake  gospel  meetings! 

At  last  the  day  arrived  for  boarding  ship.  I 
was  slated  to  go  by  the  S.  S.  America,  a  large 
^hip  carrying  2,500  troops,  but  they  needed  a 
transport  secretary  who  could  also  be  a  Chaplain 
for  the  S.  S.  Sophia,  which  was  to  sail  with  1,200 
troops.  She  was  a  smaller  and  slower  steamer, 
but  duty  before  pleasure  has  always  been  my  mot- 
to, so  I  consented  to  change  to  the  Sophia  so  as  to 
help  out  the  transport  work.  We  had  a  very  fine 
company  on  board  made  up  of  casuals  largely  Who 
were  excellent  people  to  work  with. 

After  a  sail  of  over  two  days  we  came  to  Gibral- 
tar, that  v/onderful  Rock  whidh  guards  the  gate- 
way to  the  Mediterranean,  and  that  great  British 
Citadel.  We  tarried  there  three  days,  then  we 
sailed  again  and  in  twelve  days  we  arrived  in 
New  York,  May  9th.  Oh,  it  was  glorious  to  see 
the  U.  S.  A.  again.  Glorious  to  see  home  again 
and  family  and  loved  ones.  After  our  sixteen 
months'  absence,  thank  God,  we  are  safe  home 
again ! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


SOME  MESSAGES  OF  THE  WAR. 

"Besure  your  sin  will  find  you  out."  Num.  32 :23. 

The  nation  that  is  proving  this  text  true  today 
in  terms  of  suffering,  sorrow  and  bitterness,  is 
Germany.  Nearly  fifty  years  ago  (it  was  in  1870) 
Gemiany  through  the  wicked  manipulations  of 
her  man  Bismarck,  worked  up  through  a  forged 
telegram  a  declaration  of  war  upon  France,  and 
followed  it  up  by  an  onslaught  upon  the  French 
that  eventuated  in  its  total  defeat.  The  victorious 
Prussians  marched  into  Versailles  and  took  pos- 
session of  it,  and  would  have  set  up  themselves 
also  in  Paris  had  not  the  French  begged  them  off. 
At  Versailles  they  not  only  had  their  headquar- 
ters but  it  was  here  they  created  formally  the 
German  empire  and  here  in  the  Hall  of  Mirrors 
on  January  18,  1871  William  I.  was  crowned  Ger- 
man Emperor.  Now  in  the  very  room  where  that 
happened  the  Peace  Conference  has  been  meeting 
and  it  will  be  in  the  same  room  that  Germiany  will 
have  to  sign  the  Treaty  of  Peace  which  seals  her 
doom  as  a  great  nation,  and  means  the  loss  to  her 
with  a  thousandfold  interest  of  all  that  Bismarck 
gained  in  his  wicked  war  upon  France  in  1870. 

It  will  be  God  preaching  ,a  sermon  to  all  the 
nations  and  to  all  peoples.  '*Be  sure  your  sin  will 

129 


130       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


find  you  out."  "Whatsoever  a  nation  soweth  that 
ishall  it  also  reap." 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  was  in  Cologne,  Germany.  It 
is  a  great  land  wonderful  and  beautiful  city  on  the 
jElhine.  One  of  the  great  sigihts  of  the  city  is  its 
great  Cathedral  which  stands  as  a  wonder  of  the 
iarchitect's  and  artist's  genius.  I  spent  a  little 
time  in  the  Cathedral,  and  attended  one  of  the 
services.  It  has  some  great  bells.  Two  of  them 
are  the  products  of  the  war  of  1870,  and  one  is 
called  '^The  Emperor,."  the  other  *'Gloriosa."  "The 
Emperor"  bell  is  specially  in  honor  of  William  I, 
who  had  it  cast,  and  it  bears  the  following  inscrip- 
tion :  ''William,  the  Most  Illustrious  Emperor  of 
Germany  and  King  of  Prussia,  in  pious  remem- 
brance of  the  heavenly  aid  granted  him  in  the  f or- 
itunate  course  and  conclusion  of  the  last  French 
war,  has  ordered,  after  the  restoration  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  a  bell  to  be  cast  from  captured  can- 
non, of  the  weight  of  50,000  pounds,  whidh  is  to  be 
suspended  in  the  house  of  God,  now  nearly  com- 
pleted. In  accordance  with  this  pious  desire  of 
the  victorious  prince,  the  society  formed  for  the 
completion  of  the  cathedral  has  caused  it  to  be 
oast,  under  Roman  Pontiff  Pius  IX.  and  the  Arch- 
ibishop  of  Cologne,  Paul  Melchers,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1874." 

One  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  bell  is,  ithat  the 
six  arms  that  form  the  crown  are  decorated  with 
angels'  heads  above  and  end  where  they  join  the 
bell  in  lions'  feet.   Angels  with  lions'  feet!  What 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


131 


a  contrast,  and  what  a  commentary  on  the  Ger- 
man nature  as  shown  in  this  war!  The  saintly 
and  the  beastly!  Angels  with  lions'  claws!  Cer- 
tainly as  a  roaring  lion,  Germany  went  forth  to 
devour  France,  Belgium  and  England  in  this  war. 

''Whom  the  gods  would  destroy  they  first  make 
mad"  is  an  old  proverb  and  certainly  it  would 
seem  to  be  so  in  German's  case  in  this  war.  She 
became  mad  with  learning  and  philosophy  and 
false  culture,  mad  in  her  negation  of  God,  mad  in 
her  rejection  of  the  Bible  of  Martin  Luther,  mad 
in  her  rejection  of  Revelation  and  Reason,  and 
mad  with  war  lust — lust  for  power,  lust  for  world 
dominion,  and  a  place  in  the  sun ! 

It  was  the  boast  of  Bismarck,  that  the  war  he 
'brought  about  in  1870  had  paid  a  thousand  per 
cent.  The  big  war  indemnity  imposed  upon 
France  then  and  so  speedily  paid  Germany  used 
to  start  building  up  a  great  army  and  a  great 
navy  wherewith  to  conquer  the  world.  The  Kaiser 
in  his  insane  ambition  to  be  lord  of  all  creation 
time  and  again  uttered  blasphemies  and  imagined 
himself  to  be  peculiarly  a  Regent  of  God  Almighty 
having  power  to  smite  and  blast  and  destroy  ev- 
erything that  opposed  his  will,  but  again  the 
words  of  the  old  Bible  ring  out  "Be  sure  your  sin 
will  find  you  out.'* 

The  Palace  Royal  where  the  ex-Kaiser  used  to 
delight  to  speak  from  to  his  devotees,  and  where, 
from  the  upper  balcony,  he  made  a  memorable 
speech  to  a  great  multitude  of  war  intoxicated 


132       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


people  in  the  opening  day  of  the  great  war,  is  now 
little  more  than  a  wreck.  The  Kaiser's  own  sub- 
jects have  done  the  bomhing  and  they  have  smit- 
ten the  palace  unmercifully.  Its  royal  gates  are 
nothing  but  twisted  iron,  its  doors  are  crushed,  its 
windows  smashed,  and  the  place  once  so  revered 
and  honored  as  the  habitation  of  royalty  is  now 
a  wreck  and  the  object  of  contempt. 

The  Emperor  who  destroyed  palaces  and 
churches  and  sacred  shrines  without  compunc- 
tion, who  dealt  out  ruin  and  death  to  innocent 
thousands  is  himself  today  a  refugee  in  a  foreign 
land,  his  palace  a  ruin,  his  family  scattered,  his 
home  destroyed  and  his  name  dishonored.  God  is 
preaching  to  the  Emperor :  "Be  sure  your  sin  will 
find  you  out.*' 

^^^en  God  preaches  His  sermons  He  puts  His 
arguments  in  concrete  form  and  all  His  proposi- 
tions become  requirements.  God  preaches  in 
terms  imperative  and  His  every  word  becomes  a 
law.  God  speaks  not  in  the  abstract,  but  the  con- 
crete, and  in  preaching  to  Germany  in  this  war 
and  her  defeat,  God  has  said  not  only  your  sins 
are  found  out  but  you  must  return  the  stolen  goods 
and  make  restitution  for  the  wrongs  you  have 
done. 

I  have  seen  the  sermon  work  itself  out  on  this 
wise.  Germany  marched  into  France  and  Bel- 
gium and  everything  that  ^he  wanted  ^he  took. 
She  robbed  their  railway  stock,  carrying  off  loco- 
motives and  carriages  and  freight  cars.   I  have 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  133 


seen  the  work  of  restitution  taking  place.  I  have 
seen  long  trains  of  cars  with  German  marks  all 
over  them  filling  the  tracks  in  France.  I  have 
seen  locomotives  coming  through — it  was  a  case  of 
returning  stolen  goods !  Then  the  gold  she  stole 
from  Belgium  and  Roumania  and  Russia  she  has 
had  to  send  back,  and  now  Belgium  is  demanding 
the  sending  back  of  stolen  machinery,  and 
France  is  making  the  same  demand,  and  the  great 
art  centers  from  which  Germany  stole  priceless 
art  treasures  are  putting  up  a  plea  for  the  return 
of  them,  and  on  every  hand  Germany  is  finding 
out  that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard. 

Again,  "Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out"  was 
emphasized  at  Sedan  in  November,  1918.  It  was 
with  our  troops  in  the  Argonne — our  last  desper- 
ate fight,  and  I  heard  much  about  an  oncoming 
onslaught  of  the  enemy  if  the  war  kept  up  much 
longer.  Foch  was  preparing  for  a  consummate 
blow  which  would  have  resulted  possibly  in  com- 
pletely smashing  what  remains  of  the  German  Ar- 
my. The  armistice  happened  just  in  time  to  wit- 
ness the  complete  collapse  of  the  enemy  at  Se- 
dan !  Remember  it  was  at  Sedan  in  1870  that  Bis- 
marck made  Napoleon  HI  capitulate  to  him  and 
surrender  all ! 

Now — ^forty  and  nine  years  after — seven  times 
seven — Foch,  the  Frenchman,  was  at  Sedan  with 
his  victorious  army  ready  to  deal  a  death  blow 
to  Germany  in  one  final  and  terrific  blow,  but  the 
wily  foe  knowing  what  was  coming,  cried  "Eam- 


134       THE  CROSS  ANP  THE  FLAG 


erad"  and  exchanged  the  sword  for  the  pen  and 
signed  up  under  Fooh*s  dictation,  an  armistice 
that  broke  the  despoiler's  power  and  ended  the 
worst  war  of  all  the  ages. 

Sedan  1870,  Germany  in  triumph! 

Sedan,  1918,  Germany  beaten,  humiliated, 
crushed.  '*Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out.'* 

UNDER  FIRE. 

(Address  delivered  at  Marseilles,  France,  at  re- 
ligious service,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Hall,  Wednesday  night, 
of  Passion  Week,  April,  1918.) 

I  would  like  to  remind  you  of  one  very  special 
thing  tonight  and  that  is,  this  is  Passion  Week. 
Friday  coming  will  be  Good  Friday  in  which  we 
will  celebrate  the  death  of  our  Lord.  Tonight  I 
want  to  speak  to  you  on  the  subject  of  * 'Under 
Fire,"  and  base  it  upon  the  words  of  Luke  4,  where 
we  read  of  the  temptation  Jesus  suffered  during 
those  forty  days  in  the  wilderness.  Of  course  you 
will  remember  the  significance  of  the  forty  days 
of  Lent.  They  are  forty  in  recognition  of  Christ's 
forty  days  of  fast  and  temptation  as  recorded  in 
the  gospels.  Now  speaking  of  *'Under  Fire"  some 
of  you  know  what  it  has  meant  in  this  war  to  be 
under  fire.  I  myself  was  under  fire  nearly  five 
months  and  know  what  it  means  in  all  its  awful- 
ness  and  peril.  I  think  possibly  the  most  perilous 
time  I  experienced  under  fire  was  once  when  I  was 
assisting  the  wounded  at  St.  Gilles  just  a  little  out- 
side of  Fismes.   We  had  our  dressing  station  in 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


135 


an  old  house  on  the  main  road,  and  unfortunately 
we  were  under  German  oibservation.  Away  in 
the  distance  yonder  we  could  see  that  tell-tale  ob- 
servation balloon  and  we  knew  the  fellow  up  there 
had  our  number.  In  a  little  while  shells  came 
screaming  our  way.  We  had  several  ambulances 
at  the  station  to  carry  out  the  wounded.  One  shell 
fell  within  about  fifteen  yards  from  us  and  the 
shrapnel  came  back  on  the  ambulances,  putting 
two  of  them  out  of  commission.  In  a  few  minutes 
another  shell  came  whizzing  through  the  air  and 
it  fell  in  front  of  our  station  and  the  sfhrapnel  flew 
right  in  on  top  of  us  killing  two  and  wounding 
four,  including  the  Surgeon,  and  giving  me  a  bit 
on  the  cheek  and  the  back.  For  a  few  moments 
the  place  was  a  screaming,  howling  station  of 
dead,  dying,  wounded,  scarred  set  of  men,  and  we 
did  not  know  but  that  in  another  minute  another 
shell  might  hit  us  and  finish  us  all,  but  thank 
God  the  other  shells  fell  in  another  direction  and 
we  were  enabled  to  aittend  to  the  screaming  and 
suffering  wounded.  That  was  an  awful  morning, 
and  I  thank  my  God  that  my  life  was  spared  and 
that  I  am  alive  to  spend  a  few  more  years  in 
preaching  the  gospel. 

Now  there  are  some  of  you  who  have  not  been 
under  shell  fire,  but  there  is  this  that  must  be  said. 
Every  man  of  us  knows  what  it  is  to  be  under  fire 
of  temptations  fierce  and  long  since  we  have  been 
in  the  Army.  I  suppose  also,  that  many  of  you 
have  suffered  forms  of  temptations  over  here  in 


136       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


France  altogether  different  from  any  that  you 
had  to  undergo  when  at  home,  and  where  you  had 
religious  environments  that  shielded  and  sheltered 
you. 

From  the  story  of  the  Temptation  of  Jesus  as 
recorded  in  Luke's  gospel,  we  notice  that  Satan 
tempted  Him  from  three  angles : 

(1)  He  tempted  Him  along  the  lines  of  the  ap- 
petite. 

(2)  He  tempted  Him  to  doubt,  "If  thou  be  the 
Son  of  God." 

(8)  He  tempted  Him  along  the  lines  of  ambi- 
tion. 

I  suppose  the  most  common  forms  of  tempta- 
tion you  have  suffered  in  the  army  have  been  those 
of  the  appetites  and  senses.  Here  is  where  you 
have  had  your  fiercest  tests  and  trials.  Then  you 
have  suffered  along  the  line  of  your  faith.  The 
most  fatal  thing  that  can  strike  a  man  is  when  he 
begins  to  doubt  God,  his  Savior  or  his  Bible.  Oh, 
I  plead  with  you  to  stand  by  your  faith  and  at  all 
costs  keep  a  steady  faith  in  God,  your  Bible  and  in 
Christ,  the  mighty  Savior.  Then  there  is  ambi- 
tion, which  someone  speaks  of  as  "that  last  in- 
firmity of  noble  minds."  This  was  the  fatal  blun- 
der of  Napoleon — ^ambition.  He  wanted  to  have 
the  whole  world  fall  down  and  worship  him.  And 
this  also  was  the  fatal  crime  of  the  Kaiser,  he 
wanted  the  whole  world  to  bow  to  him  and  ac- 
knowledge him  supreme  lord,  and  in  consequence 
the  whole  world  has  been  plunged  into  an  abyss 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  137 


of  sorrow  and  suffering  without  parallel  in  his- 
tory. 

Now  in  conclusion.  How  shall  we  best  over- 
come temptation?  Well,  think  of  how  Jesus  re- 
sisted the  tempter.  By  saying,  ''Thus  saith  the 
Lord"  His  appeal  was  to  God  and  to  the  word  of 
the  Lord.  I  have  known  what  severe  tests  and 
temptations  are  in  France.  I  have  had  them  rage 
in  the  arena  of  the  soul,  but  this  I  have  found  an 
effective  remedy:  I  have  gone  out  somewhere  in 
the  woods  alone  with  my  little  Bible  and  there 
with  my  Bible  and  my  God  I  have  fought  the  bat- 
tle till  I  got  victory. 

Men,  we  shall  have  lots  of  heroes  going  home. 
Many  from  the  battlefields,  but  we  shall  have  some 
going  home  who  have  never  been  at  the  front  but 
they  shall  be  heroes  neverthelss  because  some  of 
the  greatest  battles  have  been  fought,  not  on  the 
Marne  or  Argonne  but  in  the  arena  of  the  human 
conscience  and  the  soul. 

I  will  finish  this  with  those  words  which  have 
been  circulated  in  our  Reading  Rooms  in  France: 

What  will  you  say,  Sonny, 
What  will  you  say 

When  the  troopship  brings  you  home — 

Kneeling  at  last  by  your  mother's  chair, 

You  and  your  mother  alone? 

What  will  you  say.  Sonny, 

What  will  you  say. 

As  She  searches  your  face  to  see 


138 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


If  the  boy  She  gave  to  the  Country's  call 

Is  still  her  Sonny — ree  ? 

Free  of  the  taint  of  lust  and  drink, 

Free  of  all  hidden  shame, 

Free  of  the  bonds  that  slave  the  soul — 

Her  son — in  heart  and  name? 

What  will  you  say,  Sonny, 

What  will  you  say? 

Will  your  heart  be  full  of  mirth — 

Holding  her  close  in  your  strong  young  arms, 

The  Mother  who  gave  you  birth. 

What  will  you  say,  Sonny, 

What  will  you  say 

As  Her  dear  eyes  turn  to  you — 

The  Mother  who  guarded  your  boyhood  years  ? 

Say,  was  She  ever  untrue? 

And  now  what  answer  have  you  for  Her, 

Her  fair  regard  to  win — 

That  for  the  faith  She  placed  in  you, 

You  fought  your  fight  with  sin  ? 

What  will  you  say,  Sonny, 

What  will  you  say  ? 

Will  you  answer — ''Mother  of  Mine, 

Look  in  my  eyes,  look  in  my  heart. 

Yea,  read  them  line  on  line? 

Days  of  fighting  in  field  or  trench, 

Nights  mid  the  city's  lure, 

Battle  by  day,  or  battle  by  night — 

I  kept  your  son's  heart  pure !" 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


JOAN  OF  ARC. 

On  a  beautiful  August  afternoon  while  our  Di- 
vision was  out  at  rest  after  going  through  the 
Marne  campaign,  I  went  in  a  Ford  through 
the  Joan  of  Arc  country  and  visited  her  home, 
her  church,  and  the  beautiful  Basilica  built  on  the 
hill  overlooking  the  charming  Valley  of  the 
Meuse.  The  route  out  from  Gondrecourt  was 
charming.  We  went  by  splendid  roads  along  the 
ridge  of  the  valley  for  many  miles.  At  length  we 
came  into  the  village  of  Domremy  where  in  1412 
Joan  of  Arc  was  born  in  a  humble  home  of  hum- 
ble parents,  her  father  being  a  peasant  farmer. 
Joan  was  brought  up  to  sew  and  cook,  tend  sheep, 
attend  mass  and  pray.  She  had  little  or  no 
schooling.  As  a  girl  she  was  like  other  girls, 
light-hearted  and  merry.  Around  that  old  ma- 
jestic beech  tree  which  was  knov^  as  the  "fairy 
tree"  by  the  village,  she  used  to  join  other  chil- 
dren in  summer  days  in  making  wreaths  of  flow- 
ers and  hanging  it  on  the  tree  and  then  gleefully 
dancing  around  it.  There  is  a  story  that  when 
about  twelve  years  of  age  she  was  playing  with 
other  children  and  then  finished  up  with  a  race  in 
which  she  ran  so  swiftly  that  her  feet  did  not 
seem  to  touch  the  ground.    It  was  that  day  she 

139 


140 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


heard  a  voice  that  she  thought  was  her  brother^s 
calling  her.  It  was  not  her  brother's  but  the 
**Voice"  that  was  to  be  heard  by  her  in  later  days 
so  often  and  which  was  to  make  known  to  her,  her 
duty  as  the  Lord's  chosen  one. 

To  walk  in  the  grounds  once  trod  by  the  pure 
feet  of  this  wonderful  maid  was  like  treading  up- 
on sacred  soil.  We  went  throug'h  the  house  where 
she  was  brought  up  and  through  the  little  church 
where  she  delighted  to  go  and  pray.  As  we  went 
up  towards  the  altar  to  view  an  old  tc^blet  to  the 
memory  of  Joan's  ancestors  a  soldier  asked  me: 
**Where  is  Joan's  tomb  ?"  I  said  to  him :  **Joan  of 
Arc  has  no  tomb,  she  was  never  buried,  they 
burned  her  to  ashes  at  Rouen." 

Afterwards  I  thought  I  had  hardly  spoken  cor- 
rectly because  while  Joan  has  no  tomb  she  has 
monuments  all  over  France,  and  shrines  in- 
numerable, but  above  all  is  she  enshrined  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  of  France.  You  seldom  go  in- 
to a  French  church  without  seeing  a  Joan  of  Arc 
monument,  and  many  an  altar  is  dedicated  to  her 
memory,  and  the  Catholic  people  have  prayed 
very  much  to  Joan  of  Arc  during  the  war.  They 
still  think  she  helps  them.  A  good  old  French 
lady  who  gave  a  beautiful  statue  of  the  maid  to 
a  certain  village  said  to  an  American  visitor  who 
was  lecturing  to  the  American  soldiers  there  on 
Joan  of  Arc:  *'Will  you  tell  the  American  sol- 
diers wherever  you  go  that  the  good  women  of 
France  are  praying  to  the  good  God  and  to  Joan 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  141 


of  Arc  for  the  protection  of  the  American  sol- 
diers. We  cannot  talk  English  and  can  do  little  to 
show  how  much  we  appreciate  their  coming  to 
France  to  fight  with  our  sons  and  husbands  in  the 
cause  of  right  and  liberty.  We  are  praying  every 
day  for  the  safety  of  the  American  soldier,  for  to 
us  he  is  the  answer  of  the  call  of  France  to  our 
own  Joan  of  Arc  for  help." 

The  most  magnificent  monument  to  the  maid  is 
the  Basilique  on  the  hill  where,  during  the  tend- 
ing of  the  sheep  Joan  had  her  wonderful  visions 
and  heard  her  voices  most.  The  Basilique  is  built 
on  the  site  once  occupied  by  a  little  chapel  where 
tradition  says  Joan  used  to  retire  to  pray  When 
s?ie  became  seriously  affected  by  the  condition  of 
France  and  her  voices  came  to  her.  This  build- 
ing occupies  a  charming  view  point.  From  the 
steps  one  looks  out  upon  the  wonderful  valley  of 
the  Meuse  where  green  meadows  and  lovely  gar- 
dens and  red  tiled  houses  in  the  villages  and  the 
serpentine  river  and  away  in  the  distance  the 
Vosges  hills  with  one  very  pronounced  bluff.  The 
view  is  transporting  in  loveliness  on  a  summer  ev- 
ening. It  conduced  to  meditation  and  devotion. 
No  wonder  the  maid  came  here  so  often ;  no  won- 
der that  it  was  here  she  used  to  hear  her  voices. 

Southey,  the  poet,  depicts  the  maid  *mid  those 
scenes  in  the  following  lines : 

"Here  in  solitude  and  peace 
My  soul  was  nurst  amid  the  loveliest  scenes 
Of  unpolluted  nature.   Sweet  it  was 


142 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


As  the  white  mists  of  morning  rolled  away, 
To  see  the  mountain's  wooded  heights  appear 
Dark  in  the  early  dawn,  and  mark  its  slope 
With  gorgeous  flowers  glowing,  as  the  rising  sun 
On  the  golden  ripeness  pour'd  a  deepening  light 
Pleasant  at  noon  beside  the  vocal  brook." 

Going  in  the  Basilique  one  is  met  at  the  outset 
by  a  superb  bronze  statue  iby  Allarn  "Joan  of  Arc 
hearing  the  voices."  The  edifice  is  modern  hav- 
ing been  begun  in  1900.  One  became  enamored 
by  the  mural  paintings  of  M.  Charles  Lorin  which 
are  executed  upon  the  walls.  Each  panel  depicts 
some  notable  scene  in  Joan's  wonderful  career. 
You  see  Joan  listening  to  her  voices,  Joan  going 
forth  to  the  relief  of  Orleans,  Joan  attending  the 
coronation  of  Charles  at  Rheims,  and  Joan  being 
burned  at  Rouen.  One  more  picture  is  needed  if 
it  were  possible  to  paint  it,  Joan  among  the  glori- 
fied because  if  ever  there  lived  a  pure  soul,  if  ever 
a  virgin  served  God  and  loved  Him  and  obeyed 
Him  and  at  death  went  to  God,  I  am  sure  Joan  of 
Arc  was  that  one.  "She  feared  no  danger  for  she 
felt  no  sin." 

Joan  of  Arc  symbolized  the  spiritual  and  the 
prophetic.  She  was  brought  up  in  tumultous 
times  when  France  was  torn  asunder  by  discord- 
ant parties.  The  Burgundians  controlled  a  por- 
tion of  it.  The  English  other  parts.  The  French, 
as  represented  by  their  weak  and  uncrowned  King 
Charles  VII,  were  at  the  end  of  their  resources 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  P'LAG 


143 


and  were  powerless  to  drive  out  the  enemy,  unite 
the  contending  forces  and  to  put  an  end  to  cease- 
less strife  and  warfare.  Joan  had  a  burning  pity 
for  poor  France  and  the  King.  She  pondered 
much  upon  the  sufferings  and  distresses  of  her 
country.  A  legend  has  it  that  France  would  be 
saved  some  day  by  a  woman  of  Lorraine. 

In  her  twelfth  year  her  first  vision  appeared 
and  her  first  voice  was  heard.  She  tells  about  it : 
"About  midday  in  summer  in  my  father's  garden 
I  heard  the  voice  from  the  right  side  toward  the 
church  and  when  it  came  I  usually  saw  a  great 
light  on  the  side  from  which  it  spoke.  The  voice 
told  me  to  be  a  good  girl  and  go  to  church  and  to 
save  France.  I  said,  I  am  only  a  poor  peasant 
girl  who  could  not  ride  or  lead  armies  in  the  wars. 
The  voice  said,  'Saint  Michael  and  Saint  Cathar- 
ine will  help  thee.'  " 

For  four  years  nearly  the  voices  continued  to 
speak  to  her,  and  she  became  at  last  convinced 
that  God  w^as  calling  her  to  save  France.  At  last 
she  feels  commanded  to  present  herself  to  the 
King.  This  she  seeks  to  do,  first  by  way  of  Sir 
Robert  Bandricourt  at  Vaucouleurs.  She  is  pre- 
sented to  him  only  to  be  rebuked.  He  laughs  at 
the  story  of  her  visions  and  voices  and  advises 
that  she  be  spanked  and  sent  home  to  her  mother, 
but  she  perseveres  and  gives  a  sign  to  Sir  Robert 
that  she  is  no  impostor.  The  sign  comes  true  and 
he  consents  to  send  her  to  the  King  at  Ghinon.  She 
meets  the  King  engaged  with  gay  company.  This 


144       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


was  how  he  spent  his  time  usually  fritting  it  away 
with  frivolous  courtiers  while  his  country  was 
fast  going  to  ruin.  The  King  in  order  to  deceive 
the  man  was  dressed  up  in  common  attire — noth- 
ing to  denote  royalty,  but  Joan  picked  him  out  im- 
mediately she  went  into  the  room.  She  went 
up  to  him  and  told  him  God  had  sent  her  to  him 
to  lead  his  army  to  victory  and  to  lead  him  to  his 
crowning  at  Rheims.  The  King  at  first  was  un- 
willing to  give  her  a  place  at  the  head  of  his  army. 
He  first  subjected  her  to  a  close  examination  be- 
fore the  Church  Council  of  Poitiers.  They  re- 
ported in  Joan's  favor  and  gave  the  maid  the 
blessing  of  the  church  saying :  "To  doubt  the  maid 
would  be  to  resist  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Joan  now  sets  out  to  the  relief  of  Orleans  which 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  English.  Their  strong- 
holds were  the  towers  of  the  city.  Joan  boldly  an- 
nounced that  she  would  take  the  towers.  She 
said:  "My  voices  have  spoken,  they  promise  us 
the  victory.  We  shall  take  the  fort  when  my 
standard  touches  the  walls."  She  carried  with 
her  a  wonderful  banner  of  white  which  had  em- 
broidered upon  it  "Maria  Jesus."  There  seemed 
to  be  something  magical  about  that  banner.  Where 
that  banner  went  the  troops  followed  with  daring 
and  courage.  The  banner  touched  the  walls  of  the 
towers,  the  soldiers  pressed  on  to  the  final  strug- 
gle, the  victory  was  won.  Orleans  was  relieved, 
the  foe  was  driven  out.  The  great  city  was  made 
to  rejoice  as  it  has  ever  since  on  the  8th  day  of 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


145 


May  of  every  year  when  the  victory  of  the  Maid 
or  Orleans  is  celebrated  mid  great  rejoicing. 

The  next  great  triumph  in  Joan's  career  was  at 
Rheims  Cathedral,  July  17,  w^hen  Charles  VII  was 
crowned  King  of  France.  Remember  that  this 
wonderful  Cathedral  has  been  the  pride  of  France 
all  down  the  centuries  because  it  was  here  her 
Kings  were  crowned.  No  wonder  that  the  brutal 
destruction  of  this  splendid  edifice  by  the  Ger- 
mans has  aroused  such  feelings  of  grief  and  bit- 
terness among  the  French.  Today  it  lies  in  ruins 
— a  Cathedral  of  magnificence  and  beauty  and  a 
shrine  of  priceless  memories  to  the  French. 

With  the  crowning  of  the  King  Joan  felt  her 
work  was  finished  and  she  wished  to  go  back  to 
peaceful  Domremy  and  again  tend  the  sheep  and 
worship  in  the  little  chapel  and  live  the  simple 
life  of  the  peasant  girl,  but  the  King  would  not 
listen  to  it.  He  urged  her  on  to  other  campaigns, 
which  resulted  eventually  in  Joan's  death  and 
martyrdom.  It  was  in  her  Champagne  Picardy 
campaign  that  she  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Bur- 
gundians  and  by  them  sold  to  the  English  for 
10,000  livres.  The  English,  of  course,  reckoned 
that  she  had  a  bewitching  effect  upon  the  French 
army,  that  if  her  spell  were  broken  the  soldiers 
would  lose  their  spirit,  so  they  proceeded  next  to 
try  her,  and  to  do  that  they  had  to  engage  the  ser- 
vices of  the  church.  They  charged  her  with  utter- 
ing blasphemy,  with  presumption,  with  witchery, 
and  through  the  efforts   of  the  unspeakable 


146 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


Cauchon — Bishop  of  Beauvais — she  was  tried. 
Her  trial  lasted  many  months  during  which  she 
was  subjected  to  the  most  searching  examina- 
tions by  the  doctors  of  the  church.  To  all  of  their 
questions  she  answered  with  matchless  wisdom. 
She,  a  young,  untrained,  unschooled  girl  of  sev- 
enteen, matched  the  learned  doctors  in  one  of  the 
most  unusual  trials  hisitory  records. 

She  was  asked :  **Do  you  know  you  are  in  a  state 
of  grace?"  She  replied,  "If  I  am  not  in  a  state 
of  grace  may  God  bring  me  thither;  if  I  am  may 
God  keep  me  there.'' 

"Have  you  assurance  of  salvation  T' 

She  replied  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  "I 
believe  in  my  salvation  as  firmly  as  if  I  were  in 
heaven  already." 

They  replied :   "Your  answer  is  very  weighty.'* 

"I  hold  it  for  a  grealt  treasure,"  she  says. 

"Do  you  believe  you  have  wrought  no  mortal 
sin?"  they  ask. 

She  replied:  "I  do  not  believe  I  am  in  mortal 
sin,  and  if  I  have  sinned  it  is  for  God  to  know  it 
and  for  confession  to  God  and  the  priest." 

At  length  they  condemned  her  to  be  burned 
at  the  stake.  Oh,  the  horror  of  it,  the  inhumanity 
of  it !  But  so  it  seems  every  holy  cause  and  every 
human  Savior  as  well  as  the  Divine  One,  has  got  to 
have  a  Good  Friday  when  the  soul  cries  out  in 
agony:  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  for- 
saken me."  Joan  forsaken  by  the  King  whom  she 
led  to  his  crowning,  forsaken  by  the  anny  whom 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


147 


she  had  led  on  to  victory,  forsaken  and  condemned 
by  the  church  in  which  she  had  been  brought  up, 
is  led  out  of  her  prison  on  that  May  morning  in 
the  city  of  Rouen  to  mount  a  high  scaffold  to 
listen  to  a  sermon  by  one  of  the  learned  doctors, 
in  vrhich  she  is  denounced  as  a  liar,  impostor, 
heretic,  blasphemer,  witch,  and  then  to  be  burned 
alive. 

She  cries  for  a  cross  and  it  is  given  her.  She 
is  heard  to  say  as  the  smoke  envelops  her  beau- 
tiful pure  form,  ''My  voices  have  not  deceived 
me,"  and  then  in  her  last  expiring  gasp  she  is 
heard  to  ciy  ''Jesus  I" 

So  awful  was  the  sight  that  one  of  the  men  re- 
sponsible for  her  being  burned  said,  "We  have 
burned  a  saint."  The  man  who  lit  the  fires  was 
seized  with  remorse  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life 
in  penitence  for  his  crime.  The  English  who 
were  guilty  of  it  were  driven  out  of  France  the 
next  year. 

But  well  tcv  France  that  Joan  burned.  That 
fire  has  lit  a  thousand,  yea,  ten  thousand  fires  of 
devotion  in  France  since  that  day.  That  pure 
maid  burning  there  has  been  the  patron  saint  of 
thousands  of  pure  French  women  since  tha^t  day, 
and  has  demonstrated  to  the  maidenhood  of 
France,  that  in  the  midst  of  the  most  ignoble  and 
distressful  and  wicked  conditions,  God  is  able  to 
raise  up  a  maiden  fair,  \\ith  heart  pure  and  hands 
clean  and  spirit  undefiled  in  the  temple  of  whose 
soul  He  has  a  dwelling  place. 


148       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


God's  greatest  gift  to  France  was  Joan  of  Arc. 
Her  pure  spirit  has  come  down  the  ages  as  a  re- 
buke to  the  carelessness  of  her  people.  Her  god- 
likeness  has  been  a  lasting  reminder  to  France  in 
her  wanderings  'mid  the  morasses  of  infidelity 
and  atheism  that  God  still  lives  and  sitteth  in  the 
heavens.  Her  inspired  soul  lit  up  by  holy  vision 
and  spoken  to  by  voices  divine  announces  to 
France  that  God  hath  yet  His  prophets  and  seers. 

And  what  message  has  Joan  of  Arc  to  us  all — 
American,  French  and  otherwise?  This.  The 
maid  teaches  us  again  thait  there  is  a  Spirit  aibove 
and  behind  all  things,  and  that  Spirit  is  God — that 
He  communicates  Himself  to  those  who  will  listen 
and  hear;  that  this  God  is  the  same  God  who 
spoke  to  Abraham  and  told  him  to  go  unto  a  land 
that  he  knew  not  of  but  which  the  Lord  would 
show  him — the  same  God  who  spoke  to  the 
prophets  sending  them  forth  to  say:  **Thu;s  saith 
the  Lord;"  the  same  God  who  wrought  in  John 
the  Baptist,  in  Paul,  in  Peter  and  John. 

I  would  put  Joan  of  Arc  among  the  prophets 
of  God.  I  would  put  her  among  the  saints  of  all 
the  ages,  and  God  on  that  May  morning  in  Rouen 
chose  to  elect  her  to  the  ndble  armf  of  martyrs 
where  she  has  won  the  undying  affection  and 
adoration  of  all  who  loved  sweet  innocence,  spot- 
less purity  and  beautiful  sanctity. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


CONSECRATION — AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE  WAR. 

Romans  12:1. 
The  war  has  preached  a  powerful  sermon  to  us 
on  the  subject  of  Consecration.  Millions  of  men 
have  come  up  to  the  altars  of  patriotism  and  ded- 
icated their  all  to  the  cause  of  country.  The  rich 
have  come  with  their  millions,  the  merchant  with 
his  stores,  the  banker  with  his  money,  the  scholar 
with  his  learning,  the  professional  with  his  art, 
the  poor  in  their  penury — all  have  come  and  dedi- 
cated their  lives  and  blood  to  the  cause  of  humani- 
ty and  liberty,  and  they  have — thousands  of  them, 
sealed  their  consecration  with  their  blood  upon 
the  battlefields  of  the  Marne,  the  Vosges,  the 
Meuse,  the  Argonne. 

I  think  one  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of 
Consecration  the  war  has  revealed  is  seen  in  the 
remarkable  sacrifices  made  by  Paderewski — ^that 
man  of  Poland,  who,  in  order  that  Poland  might 
be  set  free  from  the  yoke  of  the  Hun  and  be  re- 
stored again  to  her  rights  as  a  free  and  independ- 
ent nation,  gave  himself  without  reserve  to  hig 
country's  cause.  Paderewski  was  the  world's 
greatest  pianist.  His  earnings  became  enormous. 
All  Europe  and  all  America  clamored  for  his  re- 
citals.   In  one  engagement  in  this  country  for 

149 


150        THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


just  a  month  or  two  his  income  was  near  the 
$150,000  mark.  He  travelled  in  private  car  and 
in  state,  servants  in  livery  waited  upon  him..  He 
and  his  wife  enjoyed  all  the  luxury  and  comforts 
that  royal  heads  could  command.  It  took  over 
thirty  trunks  to  carry  his  wardrobe  and  treasures. 
A  secretary  and  treasurer  travelled  with  him 
everywhere.  But  everything  became  changed 
when  he  thrust  himself  into  his  country's  cause. 
He  gave  up  all  that  his  country  might  be  made 
free,  and  might  be  made  contented  and  prosperous 
and  happy  again.  When  he  arrived  in  Poland  he 
bore  no  trunks,  no  luxuries;  a  handbag  was  suffi- 
cient almost  to  carry  just  his  necessary  toilet 
articles.  When  he  came  to  Posen  and  Warsaw  and 
€raco\\',  he  was  hailed  by  the  Poles  as  liberator 
and  savior,  but  his  life  was  hourly  in  danger  from 
enemy  bombs  or  bullets.  At  Posen  his  hotel  was 
attacked  by  Germans,  five  bullets  entered  his 
room.  He  has  to  be  guarded  constantly  from  the 
assassin's  attack. 

He  came  to  Paris  the  other  week  to  plead  before 
President  Wilson  and  the  others  for  fair  play  for 
Poland.  This  is  how  one  of  the  Paris  papers  de- 
scribe Paderewski: 

'*One  morning  he  simply  walked  to  his  piano  and 
shut  the  lid.  It  was  a  symbolic  gesture — ^the  clos- 
ing of  one  side  of  his  life,  the  side  which,  with  the 
strenth  and  nerve-power  of  every  day  for  thirty 
years  he  had  been  building  up,  the  deliberate 
killing  of  every  artistic  urge  within  him,  and  his 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


151 


self-consecration  to  the  dream,  born  in  his  youth, 
of  a  Polish  State.  Since  that  time  those  amazing 
fingers  of  Paderewski,  which  even  in  their  smal- 
lest movements  fascinate  one,  have  not  touched 
a  keyboard ;  and  in  the  almost  tawdry  hotel  rooms 
in  Warsaw  where  he  now  finds  a  home,  there  is 
a  gray  line  of  unbroken  dust  along  the  crevice 
from  which  the  great  instrument,  crowding  one 
comer,  opens.  Briefly,  in  1916  Paderewski  re- 
nounced art.  And  in  renouncing  art  then,  re- 
nounced all  the  leisure  and  ease,  all  the  homage 
and  acclaim  that  went  inevitably  with  such  a  suc- 
cess as  his  had  been. 

'•'He  began  work.  Three  years  follow^ed  in  which 
hundreds  of  hopes  proved  vain,  in  which  one 
bright  hour  was  succeeded  by  ten  desperate  ones, 
in  which  friends  failed  and  faith  wavered,  in 
which  ignorance,  callousness,  blindness,  stupidity, 
malice,  enmity  to  be  combated  were  daily  potions, 
in  which  the  very  fibre  of  the  man  was  strained  al- 
most momentarily  to  the  breaking  point.  Then 
that  period  ended,  and  thanks  to  British  courte- 
sy, it  became  possible  for  him  to  come  to  Poland. 
He  landed  from  a  cruiser  at  Dantzig,  with  his 
wife  was  machine-gunned  in  a  hotel,  ran  count- 
less perils,  but  at  length  reached  Warsaw.  The 
arrival  in  Warsaw  marked  a  new  epoch — an 
epoch  a  part  of  which  it  has  been  my  privilege  to 
be  able  to  observe. 

^•'In  Warsaw  M.  Pederewski  lives  in  three  very 
modest  rooms  in  the  Hotel  Bristol — shelter  for 


152 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


fabulously-rich  Ukrainian  refugees  who  keep 
treasure-chests  of  cash  under  their  beds,  pest- 
house  of  German  and  Bolshevist  intrigues,  spy- 
ground  for  a  small  army  of  international  agents, 
a  veritable  babel  of  the  tongues  of  the  world,  and 
there  he  has  toiled  for  something  like  eighteen 
hours  every  day  for  three  full  months." 

It  is  true  Paderewski's  consecration  is  patriotic 
and  political,  yet  nevertheless  it  serves  the  pur- 
pose of  illustrating  some  of  the  important  ele- 
ments that  enter  into  real  consecration,  which  I 
think,  resolve  themselves  into  the  following: 

1.  Possession  of  a  great  ideal. 

2.  Passionate  devotion  to  it. 

3.  Answering  its  call  and  meeting  its  claim. 
I  wish  we  might  have  as  full  a  dedication  to 

God  and  His  cause  of  our  lives  and  powers  and  all 
we  have  and  are  as  we  have  witnessed  in  this  war 
business.  When  I  got  ready  to  go  to  France  in 
December,  1917,  I  made  my  will.  I  made  out  all 
necessary  papers  to  my  wife  pertaining  to  any 
property  I  had.  I  fixed  up  all  my  affairs  as  though 
I  was  never  coming  back  home  again.  I  was  giv- 
ing myself  without  reservation  to  France.  I  was 
going  to  New  York  and  then  sail  out  on  the  ocean 
which  had  perils  great  and  perils  many  in  it. 
There  was  the  unspeakably  dangerous  peril  of  the 
submarine  added  to  all  the  other  dangers  of  the 
sea.  I  was  going  to  France  where  dangers  stood 
thick.  In  Paris  therfe  were  the  bombing  planes  in 
the  heavens  above  and  in  the  war  zone  there  was 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  153 


the  constant  menace  of  gas  and  shell  attack. 
One's  life  was  never  safe.  So  the  best  way  to  live 
was  to  be  ready  for  any  emergency  that  arose.  It 
was  a  good  thing  to  have  all  your  affairs  adjusted, 
your  will  made,  and  above  all  to  be  at  peace  with 
God  and  to  be  able  to  read  your  title  clear  to  man- 
sions in  the  skies.  Now  this  was  consecration  in 
a  certain  sense,  and  yet  it  was  possible  to  do  all 
this  without  entering  into  Paul's  idea  of  consecra- 
tion to  the  Lord  Jesus. 

I  believe  the  present  situation  is  calling  for  a 
special  kind  of  consecration  of  the  Pauline  type. 
This  old  world  has  gone  far  astray  and  this  war 
in  many  of  its  aspects  only  goes  to  illustrate  the 
wickedness  of  humanity,  how  Christless  has  been 
our  much-boasted  civilization  and  how  far  we 
have  gone  away  from  the  mind  of  Christ. 

The  consecration  that  our  times  demand  and 
the  church  requires  shall  include : 

The  Consecration  of  Intellect. 

The  Consecration  of  Heart. 

The  Consecration  of  Purpose. 

1.  The  Consecration  of  Intellect  must  mean  the 
bringing  of  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ  or  in  other  words  thinking  in 
terms  of  the  mind  of  Christ.  It  will  mean  a  con- 
stant seeking  to  know  the  mind  of  Christ  and 
thinking  things  out  as  He  would  if  He  were  in 
our  place. 

This  will  mean  the  rejection  of  Rationalism, 
that  evil  thing  which  had  no  small  effect  in  bring- 


154 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


ing  on  the  war,  because  it  was  Rationalism  in  its 
schools  and  Rationalism  in  its  pulpits  that  led  to 
the  collapse  of  moral  judgment  in  Germany,  swept 
away  all  allegiance  to  the  God  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  ten  commandments  and  rushed  it 
over  the  abyss. 

The  intellect  consecrated  to  Christ  will  think  in 
His  terms  and  will  make  faith  not  reason  its  final 
court  of  appeal.  It  will  put  the  emphasis  on  the 
supernatural  instead  of  the  natural.  The  conse- 
crated intellect  will  be  needed  greatly  after  the 
war  to  bring  us  back  to  Biblical  and  Christian 
thinking.  It  will  be  needed  in  our  schools  and 
colleges  because  there  is  a  frightful  amount  of  in- 
fidelity. One  of  the  most  emphatic  infidels — shall 
I  say  ?  I  met  in  France,  was  wearing  the  uniform 
of  a  Christian  organization.  I  met  him  on  the 
train  and  for  a  couple  of  hours  we  talked  together. 
I  was  glad  to  inform  him  that  after  seeing  war  in 
all  its  aspects  I  had  found  no  reason  to  throw 
overboard  any  of  the  traditions  of  a  lifetime.  We 
must  learn  a  lesson  from  Germany,  whose 
schools  corrupted  the  nation  and  robbed  it  of  the 
glorious  gospel  which  its  Martin  Luther  proclaim- 
ed to  the  world  in  the  Reformation.  And  above 
all  must  we  have  this  consecration  in  the  pulpit. 
Too  long  has  the  pulpit  been  giving  out  an  uncer- 
tain sound  and  telling  things  born  more  of  ration- 
ialism  and  doubt  than  of  faith  and  reverence  and 
revelation. 

There  will  be  a  tremendous  need  now  that  we 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  155 


shall  settle  down  to  normal  life  again  to  have  a 
pulpit  after  the  mind  of  Christ  when  the  preach- 
er will  preach  Christ's  gospel  and  not  the  shifting 
gospel  of  the  times.  Again  do  we  need  a  pulpit 
like  Spurgeon's  where  always  and  without  fail 
Christ's  gospel  was  preached,  a  pulpit  such  as 
Methodism  produced  in  those  days  of  great  re- 
vivals, crowded  churches  and  prayer  meetings — a 
pulpit  such  as  Moody's  was  in  Chicago,  Inskip's 
in  Brooklyn,  Cookman  in  Philadelphia,  and  a  pul- 
pit such  as  John  S.  Jowett's  is  today  in  London 
where  the  preacher  knows  no  one  save  Christ  and 
Him  crucified,  and  Vv^hose  great  consecrated  in- 
tellect devotes  itself  to  setting  forth  unceasingly 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 

2.  There  must  be  a  Consecration  of  the  Heart. 
Religion  that  is  of  the  head  only  becomes  super- 
ficial and  artificial.  What  is  needed  is  m.ore  heart. 
As  the  heart  is  the  seat  of  the  affections  a  conse- 
cration is  called  for  that  makes  for  a  stream  of 
affection  with  Christ  as  its  object  of  devotion. 
This  will  make  such  affections  as  Love,  Pity,  Com- 
passion, Admiration,  etc.,  shi^  forth  in  the  life. 

3.  Then  there  must  be  Consecration  of  Pur- 
pose. The  question  actuating  the  true  Chris- 
tian should  be.  To  what  am  I  devoting  my  life? 
What  is  the  one  dominating  purpose  of  my  life? 
A  great  man  once  said  when  asked  the  secret  of 
his  power  as  a  Christian  that  he  had  but  one  pas- 
sion and  that  was  Christ. 

We  have  to  admit  that  we  have  today  many 


156       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


Christians,  so-called,  without  any  definite  purpose, 
and  in  consequence  lacking  the  fire  of  real  devo- 
tion. It  was  his  purpose  firm  that  made  a  Daniel 
that  produced  a  Joseph.  It  was  their  high  pur- 
poses that  made  the  martyrs.  The  kind  of  purpose 
I  speak  of  is  that  which  will  be  willing  to  suffer 
and  risk  all  for  Jesus'  sake  trusting  the  conse- 
quences to  God.  I  think  possibly  I  can  illustrate 
this  thought  with  the  following  incident  from 
history : 

In  1799,  when  the  armies  of  Napoleon  were 
sweeping  over  the  Continent,  Massena,  one  of  his 
generals,  with  an  army  of  18,000  men,  suddenly 
appeared  on  the  heights  above  the  little  town  of 
Feldkirk,  on  the  frontier  of  Austria.  It  was 
Easter  Day,  and  as  the  morning  sun  glittered  up- 
on the  weapons  of  the  French,  the  town  council 
hastily  assembled  to  consult  what  was  to  be  done. 
Should  a  deputation  be  sent  to  Massena  with  the 
keys  of  the  town  and  an  entreaty  for  mercy,  or 
should  they  attempt  resistance?  Then  the  old 
dean  of  the  church  stood  up,  and  said:  *'This  is 
Easter  Day.  We  have  been  counting  on  our 
strength,  and  that  fails.  This  is  the  day  of 
Christ's  resurrection.  Let  us  ring  the  bells  and 
have  service  as  usual,  leaving  the  matter  in  God's 
hands.  We  know  only  our  weakness,  and  not  the 
power  of  God."  Then  all  at  once  from  the  three 
or  four  church  towers  the  bells  began  to  chime 
joyous  peals  in  honor  of  the  resurrection,  and  the 
streets  were  filled  with  worshippers  hastening  to 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  157 


the  house  of  God.  The  French  heard  with  alarm 
the  sudden  clangour  of  joy  bells,  and  concluded 
that  the  Austrian  Army  had  arrived  in  the  night 
to  relieve  the  place.  Massena  soon  broke  up 
his  camp,  and  before  the  bells  had  ceased  ringing 
not  a  Frenchman  was  to  be  seen. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


SOME  INTERESTING  PEOPLE  I  MET  DURING  AND 
AFTER  THE  WAR. 

First  let  me  mention  my  friends  Crawford  and 
Skinner,  who  were  fellow  travellers  on  the  same 
steamer  with  me  in  crossing  the  Atlantic.  Mr. 
Crawford  was  a  wonderfully  redeemed  man  from 
New  England  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction.  He  was 
full  of  life  and  had  the  root  of  the  matter  in  him. 
He  has  been  engaged  for  some  years  in  boys' 
work  and  out  of  his  own  deep  experience  has  de- 
veloped a  very  interesting  lecture  on  ^'Educated 
Iron."  Mr.  Skinner  comes  from  New  York  where 
he  has  been  in  the  construction  business.  He  is  a 
foremost  Christian  worker  and  has  been  closely 
identified  with  the  John  Street  Noonday  Prayer 
Meeting.  He  was  the  kind  of  man  that  the  Y. 
M.  C.  A.  could  have  used  to  great  advantage  in 
their  religious  department  but  he  was  given  work 
in  the  construction  line  and  fell  into  the  hands 
of  a  divisional  secretary  who  cared  comparative- 
ly little  about  the  religious  side  of  the  work.  Many 
a  valuable  man  like  Skinner  was  taken  no  advan- 
take  of,  but  was  sidetracked  to  jobs  that  men  with 
no  religious  talents  could  have  carried 

Mr.  W.  H.  Danforth,  a  big  business  man  from 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  had  charge  of  our  Third  Division 

158 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


159 


Y.  M.  C.  A.  work ;  in  fact,  he  organized  the  work 
and  went  with  the  Division  through  the  three 
fronts — ^the  Marne,  St.  Mihiel  and  the  Argonne. 
He  was  a  prominent  Christian  worker  of  St. 
Louis  and  superintendent  of  a  big  Sunday  school 
there.  He  came  to  France  and  worked  and  toiled 
night  and  day  to  put  things  through.  He  paid 
his  own  expenses  and  did  not  take  a  dollar  for  his 
services.  He  knew  how  to  handle  his  men,  and 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  in  his  division  was  one  of 
the  best  organized  in  France.  I  said  good-bye  to 
Mr.  Danfoi-th  in  the  Argonne  just  as  we  were 
about  to  move  on  to  the  front  line.  He  had  to  go 
back  to  the  U.  S.  A.,  to  engage  in  the  November 
drive  for  money.  I  am  sure  the  experiences  in 
France  will  make  him  of  still  greater  use  to  the 
church  in  St.  Louis,  especially  in  his  relations  to 
the  boys  who  come  back  from  the  army. 

The  man  next  in  command  of  our  Third  Divi- 
sion Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  Richard  C.  Shreve,  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.  Shreve  was  a  big-hearted  and 
big-handed  man.  He  also  gave  his  services  with- 
out expense,  paying  his  own  bills.  I  think  he  was 
without  doubt  one  of  the  bravest,  most  courag- 
eous and  tireless  workers  I  met  in  my  travels.  I 
have  seen  Shreve  on  shell-torn  roads  at  night 
with  shells  shrieking  through  the  air,  in  his  Ford 
going  on  up  front  delivering  goods  to  his  men  for 
the  *'boys."  I  have  seen  him  on  the  roads,  driving 
on  when  it  looked  positively  suicidal  for  a  man 
to  risk  his  life  so,  but  Shreve  knew  no  fear  and 


160 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


never  seemed  to  get  tired.  He  snatched  sleep 
when  he  could  and  ate  when  he  found  time.  I 
think  one  of  his  most  heroic  acts  was  at  the  Bat- 
tle of  the  Marne.  No  ambulances  could  get  up  to 
us  Monday  of  the  battle  because  of  the  shells  that 
kept  coming  all  day,  but  on  Tuesday  morning 
Shreve  was  up  to  our  dressing  station  first  thing 
with  his  Y.  M.  C.  A.  truck,  for  the  wounded.  In 
one  of  his  trips  back  to  Courban  he  was  told  of 
over  forty  American  wounded  who  had  been  cap-. 
tured  by  the  Germans.  They  had  also  captured 
two  ambulances  and  carried  off  the  drivers. 
Shreve  volunteered  to  go  in  and  bring  back  the 
v;ounded  if  he  could  get  some  soldiers  to  go  with 
him.  Several  volunteered,  including  Captain 
Daniel  (Surgeon) .  When  they  came  close  to  where 
the  wounded  were  the  Captain  and  soldiers  did 
the  shooting — ^the  German  guards  disappeared. 
Shreve  loaded  up  his  truck  and  the  two  captured 
ambulances  with  the  wounded  and  brought  them 
all  back  to  safety  and  to  the  hospital. 

Another  man  of  fine  parts  was  Mr.  J.  R.  Simp- 
son, of  United  Presbyterian  Church,  Pittsburg, 
Pa.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  Christian  princi- 
ples and  stood  by  them.  To  him  the  Sabbath,  ev- 
en in  the  army,  meant  something,  and  he  didn't 
believe  in  running  his  canteen  open  wide  Sun- 
days as  well  as  week  days.  He  was  a  good  per- 
sonal worker,  a  man  who  read  his  Bible  and 
prayed  but  at  the  same  time  stood  good  with  his 
men  and  never  spared  himself  in  serving  them. 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  161 


He  went  all  through  the  war  with  the  Third  Di- 
vision, also  went  into  the  Army  of  Occupation 
with  them.  I  spent  a  Sunday  with  him  in  Ger- 
many. On  Sundays  he  put  through  a  good  relig- 
ious program  and  in  every  way  was  serving  his 
country  and  his  God  faithfully. 

Another  man  who  helped  me  a  good  deal  in  my 
work  with  the  Third  Battalion  was  Joe  Ferry. 
He  had  been  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Salvation  Army 
in  Boston  and  when  he  joined  the  army  he  took  a 
job  as  cook  with  Company  M.  Joe  was  a  good 
singer  and  was  just  full  of  Salvation  Army  songs. 
In  my  services  Joe  would  always  be  on  hand  to 
lead  the  singing.  Sometimes  Corporal  Wade,  Joe 
and  myself  would  sing  together  in  the  meetings. 
Wade  was  a  good,  solid  Christian  fellow  and  kept 
his  testimony  true  all  through  the  war. 

Another  fellow  was  Benson,  who  studied  for 
the  ministry  at  Asbury  College.  He  came  later 
in  the  Second  Battalion  where  I  got  acquainted 
with  him.  He  was  a  good,  earnest  Christian  fel- 
low, not  ashamed  of  his  Lord,  and  I  was  always 
glad  to  see  him  in  the  meetings.  In  my  last  talk 
v/ith  him  in  Germany  I  urged  him  to  get  in  the 
way  of  going  back  to  College  to  finish  up  his  prep- 
aration for  the  gospel  ministry.  His  war  experi- 
ence v/ill  make  him  all  the  stronger  preacher  1 
believe. 

A  Chaplain  that  I  grew  very  fond  of  was  my 
dear  friend  and  brother,  Dr.  George  P.  Horst, 
pastor  of  Presbyterian  Church,  Portsmouth,  O. 


162       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


He  was  a  Princeton  man  and  held  a  prominent 
pulpit  in  Ohio.  I  seldom  enjoyed  fellowship  with 
any  man  more  than  with  Horst.  He  came  to  the 
Regiment  just  the  day  before  the  Battle  of  the 
Marne  broke  out,  and  therefore  had  his  baptism 
of  fire  all  of  a  sudden,  while  others  of  us  came 
to  it  gradually.  We  were  together  right  up  to  the 
Argonne.  For  a  while  we  shared  our  pup  tent 
together  and  very  often  at  night  as  we  laid  down 
to  sleep  we  would  sing  together  some  good  old 
hymn.  Dr.  Horst  never  failed  to  preach  the  real 
gospel  every  time  he  held  services.  At  De  Mange 
for  three  Sundays  we  carried  on  real,  old-fash- 
ioned evangelistic  campaigns  and  on  the  last  Sun- 
day night  before  going  into  the  Argonne  front  we 
held  a  communion  service  in  an  old  French  school- 
house  and  Dr.  Horst  baptized  twelve  men. 

When  down  in  the  Riviera  I  met  a  most  inter- 
esting character.  He  was  certainly  a  great  mix- 
ture. He  was  born  in  America  of  Greek  parents, 
was  a  Greek  by  nationality,  he  lived  in  Constan- 
tinople for  many  years  and  knew  Turkish  thor- 
oughly ;  he  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  British  army 
in  the  capacity  of  interpreter.  So  he  was  Ameri- 
can, Greek,  Turkish,  British,  all  in  one  and  was 
then  living  in  Nice,  France,  and  knew  French. 
Thus  he  could  speak  English,  Greek,  Turkish, 
French,  and  I  don't  know  what  else.  I  got  into  a 
most  interesting  conversation  with  him  as  we 
waited  for  our  train.  He  was  thrilled  with  ad- 
miration for  Constantinople,  which  was  to  him  al- 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  163 


most  the  same  as  his  native  city  as  he  had  been 
practically  brought  up  there.  He  gave  me  the 
story  of  his  nation — the  Greek's  entrance  into  the 
war  over  the  head  of  the  King  Constantine  and 
his  Pro-German  Queen,  but  he  was  especially 
charmed  at  what  the  British  had  done  in  setting 
Constantinople  free. 

"What  is  going  to  become  of  Constantinople?" 
I  inquired. 

"Oh,"  he  said,  "It  will  be  an  International 
city."  Then  he  expatiated  upon  the  charms  of 
that  city.  Especially  was  he  charmed  at  the  pros- 
pect of  the  Cross  taking  the  place  of  the  Crescent 
on  St.  Sophia.  He  was  a  Greek  and  belonged  to 
the  Greek  church.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  when 
the  change  comes  something  more  evangelical 
than  the  Greek  church  will  take  hold  of  that  great 
church. 

My  conversation  with  my  Greek  friend  accen- 
tuated my  interest  in  Constantinople  and  St. 
Sophia,  that  great  church,  and  I  read  with  renew- 
ed interest  some  facts  about  the  city. 

Napoleon,  when  considering  the  question  of 
giving  Constantinople  to  Alexander  of  Russia, 
exclaimed,  "Constantinople!  Never,  it  means  the 
empire  of  the  world.  It  has  a  history  as  wonder- 
ful as  Alexandria,  Carthage,  Athens,  Rome.  It 
stands  with  Jerusalem  unique  in  history  and  des- 
tiny. She  has  been  called  the  "Queen  of  Cities." 
Emperors  lavished  their  wealth  upon  her.  Dean 
Stanley,  writing  of  the  city,  says :  "It  is  impossi- 


164       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


ble  to  look  down  from  the  Galata  Tower  on  the 
complication  of  sea  and  land,  island  and  main- 
land, peninsula  and  promontory  strait  and  conti- 
nent and  not  feel  that  the  spot  is  destined  to  be 
what  it  seems  more  and  more  likely  to  he  both 
historically  and  politically,  the  Gordian  knot  of 
the  world. 

Constantinople  is  called  after  Constantine  the 
great  Christian  Emperor  who  founded  it  after  the 
Council  of  Nice  in  326.  Tradition  says  he  was 
mysteriously  guided  in  marking  out  the  limits  of 
the  city.  He  said:  '1  must  follow  till  He  who 
leads  me  stops.  He  replaced  the  heathen  temples 
with  Christian  churches.  Saint  Sophia  being  the 
chief  and  greatest.  Constantine's  purpose  was  to 
make  Constantinople  more  imperial  than  Rome, 
more  brilliant  than  Athens,  more  Christian  than 
Alexandria  and  Ephesus.  Upon  a  lofty  column  he 
inscribed  these  words  of  dedication: 

"0  Christ,  Ruler  and  Maker  of  the  World,  to 
Thee  have  I  now  consecrated  this  obedient  city 
and  this  scepter  and  Power  of  Rome.  Guard  it, 
Deliver  it,  from  every  Harm.'' 

The  golden  age  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  con- 
tinued from  530  to  1453  when  the  Turk  and  the 
Mohammedan  seized  the  city.  But  the  Mohamme- 
dans however,  did  not  destroy  the  beautiful  St. 
Sophia;  they  simply  washed  it  all  over  with  rose 
water  and  then  dedicated  it  a  Mosque.  Beautiful 
beyond  description  is  this  church.  It  has  prec- 
ious relics  from  the   Holy  Land,   ivory  doors, 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


165 


priceless  mosaics,  colored  marbles  and  columns 
from  the  temple  of  Ephesus  and  from  Rome, 
flashing  jewels,  crystal  carbuncle,  sapphire,  cost- 
ly stones,  porphyry  bronze,  gold  and  silver 
Stamped  on  each  brick  were  the  words,  "God  is 
in  the  midst  of  her." 

And  now,  thank  God,  the  British  having  set 
free  Jerusalem,  have  set  free  Constantinople. 
Where  the  Crescent  and  the  bloody  sword  of  the 
Turk  predominated  now  will  the  Cross  and  the 
gospel  have  free  course  and  be  glorified. 

War  is  horrible!  It  is  to  be  hated  and  driven 
from  the  earth,  but  it  seems  at  times  as  though 
the  great  God  employs  such  a  dreadful  instru- 
ment as  war  to  break  chains  of  oppression,  to 
burst  fetters  with  the  rust  of  centuries  upon 
them,  to  open  doors  of  truth  and  freedom  and 
righteousness  and  to  bring  on  a  new  day  and  age 
to  oppressed  peoples. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE  HAVOC  OF  WAR,  AND  AFTER. 

I  hate  war!  Be  it  far  from  me  to  glorify  it. 
War  has  been  responsible  for  the  greatest  calami- 
ties that  have  befallen  humanity.  War  has 
hrought  more  cries  and  tears,  more  heart-^breaks 
and  agonies,  more  sorrows  and  griefs,  than  pesti- 
lence, famine,  fire  or  flood. 

Well  has  an  English  writer  said :  "War  involves 
moral  degradation  not  only  because  of  the  deeds  it 
demands  for  which  man  has  to  call  up  his  savage 
and  animal  instincts,  but  because  of  the  hate, 
trickery  and  false  witness  without  which  it  can- 
not be  conducted.  War  dethrones  reason  and 
makes  religion  sheer  hypocrisy,  and  the  best 
thinkers  of  our  times  have  done  their  best  to  de- 
vise schemes  to  banish  this  disgrace  from  the 
world ;  so  far  all  in  vain." 

Walt  Whitman  was  right  when  he  said :  "Wars 
are  hellish  business — all  wars.  Any  honest 
man  says  so — hates  war,  fighting,  blood  letting. 
I  was  in  the  midst  of  it  all.  Saw  war  was  worst — 
not  on  the  battlefields.  No — in  the  hospitals, 
there  war  is  worst!" 

I  hate  war.  I  have  seen,  v^hile  on  battlefields 
and  in  the  devastated  territories  of  France,  a 
thousand  things  to  make  me  hate  war !  0  war,  I 
hate  thee  for  cities  bombed  by  the  aircraft,  and 

166 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  167 


pierced  by  the  long-range  guns.  I  hate  thee  for 
slaying  the  mother  and  her  helpless  children,  and 
destroying  defenseless  homes;  I  hate  thee  for  de- 
stroying cities  and  towns  and  villages  by  gun  and 
torch  and  gas  and  sword.  I  hate  thee  for  thy 
work  of  ruthless  violence  upon  the  innocent  and 
the  weak.  I  hate  thee  for  human  habitations 
turned  into  slaughter-pens.  I  hate  thee  for  battle- 
fields 'mid  w^hose  smoke  and  carnage  fathers  and 
sons,  husbands  and  lovers  go  down  to  dreadful 
deaths,  or  to  sufferings  unspeakable.  I  hate  thee 
for  destroying  the  wheels  of  industry,  turning 
aside  the  streams  of  progress  and  human  happi- 
ness and  making  the  world  a  dreadful  morass  in 
which  are  found  no  paths  of  peace,  no  resting 
places. 

Think  of  the  awful  waste  of  human  life  this 
war  has  'brought:  Battle  deaths  of  thirteen  na- 
tions in  the  world  war,  according  to  figures  com- 
piled and  announced  by  General  Peyton  C. 
March,  Chief  of  Staff,  U.  S.  A.,  totalled  7,354,000. 
The  figures  include  only  men  killed  in  battle  or 
who  succumbed  to  wounds  received  in  battle.  The 
losses  by  the  various  nations  were  as  follows: 
Russia,  1,700,000;  Germany,  1,600,000;  France, 
1,305,000 ;  Austria,  800,000 ;  Great  Britain,  706,- 
000 ;  Italy,  460,000 ;  Turkey,  250,000 ;  Belgium, 
102,000;  Bulgaria,  100,000;  Rumania,  100,000; 
Serbia  and  Montenegro,  100,000;  United  States, 
50,000.  The  number  of  men  in  the  American 
Army  transported  up  to  the  day  of  the  armistice 


168       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


was  2,500,000.  The  total  discharges  from  the 
United  States  Army  to  date  num^ber  1,300,000. 
Orders  issued  to  date  call  for  the  demobilization 
of  a  total  of  1,500,000  men. 

"Christ  dies  before  us  in  the  war; 
The  wounded  show  His  mangled  hands, 
We  plant  His  crown  in  many  lands 
And  all  the  weapons  of  our  pride 
Are  piercing  the  Savior's  side.'' 

One  has  said  of  war  that  **it's  heroisms  are 
but  the  glancing  sunlight  on  a  sea  of  blood  and 
tears."  Yet  after  going  through  it  on  three  battle- 
fronts  I  cannot  see  that  America  could  have  done 
anything  else  but  engage  in  the  strife  against  the 
greatest  menace  of  our  age.  I  cannot  conceive 
how  we  Americans  could  have  kept  out  of  it  and 
look  a  Frenchman  or  an  Englishman  in  the  face 
again  if  we  had  permitted  them  to  keep  on  un- 
aided in  their  struggle  till  their  strength  was  com- 
pletely gone,  and  the  foe  had  conquered,  and  the 
mailed  fist  had  beaten  them  into  despair  and  sub- 
mission. I  cannot  conceive  how  we  could  have 
maintained  a  decent  self-respect  if  we  had  in- 
dulged ourselves  in  a  smug,  self-complacency  and 
folded  our  arms  and  said  to  England  and  to 
France,  "It  is  none  of  our  business." 

I  cannot  reconcile  the  two — ^hatred  of  war  and 
recognition  of  war — as  a  necessary  measure.  Yet 
I  find  myself  in  that  dilemma.  America  in  enter- 
ing the  war  did  it  not  for  her  own  sake ;  did  it  not 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  169 


for  a  dollar  of  gain  or  an  acre  of  territory.  She 
went  into  it  as  a  righteous  and  honorable  meas- 
ure, and  by  America  entering  the  strife  the  day 
was  saved !  England  and  France,  Belgium,  Italy, 
the  Balkans,  Jerusalem — the  whole  round  world 
has  been  benefited,  humanity  and  civilization  and 
freedom  has  been  protected,  and  the  stream  of  hu- 
human  progress  has  not  been  turned  backward  for 
perhaps  a  thousand  years. 

What  shall  bring  an  end  to  wars  ?  Let  us  not  be 
deceived,  let  us  not  look  in  the  wrong  direction  for 
hope  of  relief  from  the  power  of  this  fell  destroy- 
er! I  think  Dr.  Jefferson,  of  New  York,  has  put 
it  right  when  he  said:  "Science  cannot  kill  war, 
for  science  has  not  the  new  heart,  and  whets  the 
sword  to  a  sharper  edge.  Commerce  cannot  kill 
war,  for  commerce  lacks  the  new  heart,  and  lifts 
the  hunger  of  covetousness  to  a  higher  pitch.  Pro- 
gress cannot  kill  war,  for  progress  has  no  heart 
at  all,  and  progress  in  wrong  directions  leads  us 
into  bottomless  quagmires  in  which  we  are  swal- 
lowed up.  Law  cannot  kill  war,  for  law  is  noth- 
ing but  a  willow  withe  tied  round  the  arms  of  hu- 
manity, and  human  nature  when  aroused  snaps 
all  the  withes  asunder  and  carries  off  the  gates  of 
Gaza.  Education  cannot  end  war,  and  if  by  edu- 
cation you  mean  the  sharpening  of  the  intellect, 
the  drawing  out  of  the  powers  of  the  mind,  the 
mastering  of  formulas  and  laws  and  dates  and 
facts,  education  may  only  fit  men  to  become  ten- 
fold more  masterful  in  the  awful  art  of  slaughter. 


170       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


Who  will  end  war?  The  world  has  had  three 
historic  scourges:  famine,  pestilence,  and  war. 
Each  one  numbers  its  victims  by  the  tens  of 
millions.  Commerce  killed  famine.  By  her  rail- 
road and  steamship  she  killed  it.  It  lies  like  a 
dead  snake  by  the  side  of  the  road  along  which 
humanity  has  marched  up  to  the  present  day. 
Science  killed  pestilence.  The  Black  Plague,  the 
Bubonic  Plague,  Cholera,  Smallpox,  Yellow  Fev- 
er— all  have  received  their  deathblow.  Science 
did  the  work.  These  foes  of  mankind  lie  bleeding 
and  half  dead  by  the  side  of  the  road  along  which 
the  w^orld  presses  on  to  a  higher  day.  Who  will 
kill  war?  Not  Commerce,  and  not  Science,  not 
both  of  them  together.  Only  Religion  can  kill 
war,  for  religion  alone  creates  the  new  heart. 
Without  religion  we  are  without  hope  in  this 
world.   Without  God  we  are  lost." 

AFTER  THE  WAR— THE  GOSPEL. 

While  the  war  was  in  progress  I  wrote  an  ap- 
peal to  hold  fast  the  old  faith.  In  that  article  in 
The  Christian  Witness,  I  said : 

I  hold  that  it  will  take  more  than  an  European 
war,  more  than  artillery  and  trenches  and  aero- 
planes and  millions  of  soldiers  armed  to  the  teeth 
to  give  us  anything  better  in  the  way  of  religion 
than  the  old-time  religion,  or  anything  better  in 
the  way  of  faith  than  the  Christian  faith.  My 
D'wn  conviction  is  that  at  the  end  of  the  war  we 
shall  find  ourselves  in  greater  need  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  the  old-time  religion  than  we  ever 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


171 


do  now,  for  war  brings  sorrows,  wounds,  disap- 
pointments, and  grief  inconsolable.  It  likewise 
brings  in  its  train  vice,  insanity,  lawlessness,  im- 
morality and  numerous  other  ills,  and  the  people 
who  have  to  bear  these  will  need  more  than  hu- 
man support  and  sjTnpathy.  They  will  need  God 
and  the  consolations  of  religion  and,  I  should  not 
be  surprised  if  the  experience  of  our  people  after 
the  Civil  War  will  be  repeated  when  deep  called 
unto  deep — the  deeps  of  human  sorrow  and  need 
cried  unto  the  deeps  of  God's  compassion  and 
mercies  and  there  was  a  great  turning  unto  Grod 
through  the  preaching  of  the  old,  old  gospel. 

At  all  costs  let  us  hold  first  to  the  faith  because 
if  we  let  that  go  we  shall  be  lost  in  a  wilderness  of 
doubt,  dismay  and  despair.  Philosophy  cannot 
take  its  place.  Science  has  added  length  to  our 
arms  so  that  we  can  hurl  a  cannon  ball  three  score 
miles  and  ten.  It  has  added  to  our  sight  so  that 
we  can  see  through  a  powerful  telescope  into  rUim- 
itless  space.  It  has  given  volume  to  our  voice  so 
that  we  can  talk  to  one  another  three  thousand 
miles  away.  It  has  given  us  wings  so  that  we 
can  fly  in  the  heavens,  but  science  has  no  consola- 
tions for  the  broken  heart,  no  solace  for  the  grief 
stricken.  It  has  no  healing  for  the  wounded  soul. 
It  cannot  speak  pardon  to  the  guilty  or  wash  away 
the  soul's  pollution  or  bring  it  into  tune  with  God 
and  into  accord  with  heaven's  music.  Science  is 
demonstrating  itself  in  this  war.  The  science 
of  gunnery  has  laid  cities  waste  and  dealt  out 


172       THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


destruction  to  countless  thousands.  The  Science 
of  Chemistry  has  produced  gases  which  poured 
out  upon  the  clouds  have  enveloped  armies  and 
caused  pains  and  pangs  and  horrors  indescribable 
as  they  have  burned  up  lungs  and  tissues  and 
made  the  human  body  a  furnace  of  fire  and  death, 
the  most  horrible  of  monsters.  The  science  of 
aviation  has  caused  cities  to  shake  with  suspense 
and  alarm  as  the  dreadful  aircraft  has  dropped 
bombs  that  have  broken  on  the  heads  of  the  inno- 
cent and  swept  fire  and  dealt  out  destruction  on 
houses,  churches  and  marts.  Germany  today 
stands  as  a  living  monument  and  example  of 
what  a  false  philosophy  can  do  and  what  war  as 
a  science  can  bring  to  a  whole  world — of  up- 
heaval, distress,  famine,  destruction,  wreckage 
and  human  misery  and  woe.  The  whole  world  is 
today  in  its  bitterest  travail  and  pain  and  sor- 
row because  a  Nation  chose  philosophy  and  kultur 
as  its  God,  and  war  as  its  science,  and  to  get  back 
to  normal  again  and  to  reconstruct  human  affairs 
and  to  put  civilization  again  upon  a  livaible  basis 
where  happiness  and  contentment  can  again  be 
pursued  without  molestation,  we  shall  have  to  get 
back  to  a  New  Testament  basis  and  bring  back 
again  the  ark  of  the  Lord  which  for  a  long  time 
now  has  been  in  exile. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  of  the  crying 
need  of  the  gospel  after  the  war,  I  was  moved  to 
write  the  Christian  Herald  an  appeal  on  this  line, 
and  I  said,  in  part : 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG  173 


The  Church  after  the  war  ?  Well,  let  me  speak 
as  one  who  has  preached  the  gospel  twenty-five 
years  at  home  and  a  year  in  the  army  in  France ; 
as  one  who  has  seen  war  in  all  its  frightful  actu- 
alities and  who  for  five  months  lived  and  suffered 
and  wrought  under  shell-fire,  and  who  knows  by 
a  bit  of  real  experience  what  officers  and  men 
have  to  go  through  and  have  come  out  of. 

First.  Let  the  Church  present  a  live,  vital 
gospel.  I  mean  the  kind  that  is  found  in  the  New 
Testament.  Don't  let  the  pulpit  spend  its  precious 
time  on  such  secondary  matters  as  "reconstruc- 
tion," ''expansion,"  the  "new  social  conditions," 
etc.  The  press,  the  magazine,  the  forum,  the  ly- 
ceum,  the  lecture  hall,  etc.,  can  better  handle  a 
lot  of  those  questions  than  the  average  preacher. 
That  was  a  good  reply  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
while  lecturing  at  Yale,  when  he  was  asked  if  the 
preacher  should  devote  some  time  to  lecturing  on 
various  subjects  other  than  religions.  "What's 
the  use,"  said  Beecher,  "of  having  two  nozzles  to 
your  hose,  when  you  have  only  water  enough  for 
one  ?'  Exactly !  I  believe  the  Church  and  the  pul- 
pit that  "after  the  war"  build  on  the  same  old 
gospel  that  Wesley,  Spurgeon,  Talmage,  Simpson 
and  Moody  preached  will  be  the  one  that  the  sol- 
dier boys  want  to  go  to,  and  that  will  best  meet 
the  new  conditions  brought  upon  us  by  the  world 
war.  Remember,  it  was  after  the  Civil  War  that 
Moody's  mighty  work  took  place,  and  no  man 
clung  to  the  old,  old  gospel  like  Moody.  Remem- 


174 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


ber  also  that  the  man  to  whom  England  is  lis- 
tening to  today  is  John  H.  Jowett,  whose  message 
is  always  and  lonly  that  of  the  New  Testament 
gospel. 

Second.  Let  the  churches  drop  all  denomina- 
tional rivalry;  let  all  petty  bickerings  be  cleaned 
out;  let  even  theological  hair-splitting  be  done 
away  with,  and  let  the  Church  settle  down  to  the 
main  proposition :  that  of  promoting  the  interests 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Let  there  be  a  settling 
down  to  that  business  chiefly — all  other  things,  all 
other  questions,  all  other  activities  being  secon- 
dary. 

Third.  Let  the  Church  guard  sacredly  the 
things  handed  down  to  her,  and  let  not  war  condi- 
tions and  their  cessation  bring  on  a  hysteria  of 
liberality  by  which  the  golden  law  of  Moses  might 
be  exchanged,  for  expediency's  sake,  for  some- 
thing brassy,  and  the  '*oid  faith'*  substituted  by 
a  program  entirely  human. 

War  has  a  tendency  to  produce  a  short  mem- 
ory for  the  Ten  Commandments.  Peace  must 
needs  improve  that  memory.  The  Church  must 
apply  herself  to  this  important  bit  of  business. 
The  old  Decalogue  has  had  some  rough  usage  the 
past  year  or  more.  America  must  look  out  here ! 

Then  there  has  been  a  lot  of  wild  talk  about  a 
new  gospel  coming  from  the  trenches  and  battle- 
fields. Well,  I  have  been  through  the  thing,  and 
have  been  associated  with  thousands  who  have 
been  through  the  thing,  and  we  have  found  no 


THE  CROSS  AND  THE  FLAG 


175 


new  gospel  in  the  trenches  or  dugouts  or  battle- 
fields of  France.  Oh,  no!  We  have  seen  blood 
there  and  demons.  We  have  wrestled  with  the 
powers  of  darkness  there,  and  have  seen  suffering 
men  cry  in  their  agonies  to  God.  We  have  met 
all  kinds  of  things  in  the  trenches  and  dugouts 
and  battlefield,  but  have  failed  to  find  any  gospel 
there  better  than  the  gospel  of  our  childhood,  the 
gospel  of  our  youth,  the  gospel  of  our  manhood 
and  ministry,  which  is  the  good  old  gospel  of  the 
New  Testament.  And  let  it  be  remembered  that 
the  boys,  as  they  march  out  of  the  trenches  and 
battlefields  on  their  way  home,  wall  carry  with 
them  the  same  New  Testament  that  they  bore  up- 
on the  battlefront,  because  they  have  failed  to 
find  anything  any  better. 

Let  no  one  be  deceived  by  a  spurious  cry  of  a 
new  gospel.  And  now  that  the  war  is  over,  just 
let  the  churches  do  what  old  Peter  Cartwright, 
of  early  Methodist  history,  said  when  dying: 
"Give  the  old  gospel  a  chance." 


Date  Due 

Form  335.    45M  8-37. 

940.92773    R547C  313640 


